Crushing on You
by Sour Queen
Summary: I, Uzumaki Naruto, am finally at my desperation point to fall in love. And because of said desperation point, I have fully drawn out a list of totally dateable people to try and I HAVE to fall for one of them before I reach Sasuke's name..AU. SasuNaru.
1. Something More than Single

Crushing on You

Chapter One: Something More than Single

Beta: strawberries and napkins

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

...

Today is a day of destiny. I've already decided it, because I, Naruto Uzumaki am never wrong. Unless you're counting anything education-related, but still! I felt it as soon as I woke up this morning and the sun was already up in the April sky. It's a good sign, in case you didn't know.

A good sign for love!

And I know, you must be wondering why I pointed out it's a love sign. That's because I am in desperate need of it. Love, I mean. I'm tired of being single! I want someone to cuddle, hold, and kiss for no reason! Everyone gets that except me, and hello, have you seen my eyes? It's not like I'm ugly. I'd like to think I'm pretty cute, but the longer I stay single the longer I begin to doubt it.

You see, in my small town of Konoha there's only one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. Everyone knows each other around here; we're like one big happy family. It's what I love about Konoha; I really, really, love this place. And I love everyone in it.

Well…almost everyone.

I know that technically on such a good day like this you shouldn't talk bad about someone, but for this I can make an exception.

For example, 'if' I was using the name Sasuke Uchiha.

And only if I was pointing out to you how mean and cruel and how he thinks he's so damn cool and he's not! So what if his hair defies gravity, I mean, hasn't anyone ever heard of hair gel? Apparently not in this town, because every girl (and most guys) are practically in love with him! Except for me of course, he's my Number One Enemy and rival and I want nothing more than to beat him in something and see that smirk fall off his face!

But enough talking about him, we're talking about my love life. Or lack thereof, actually. My real dilemma is that next Saturday is the Konoha Fireworks Festival. It's a really big deal around here, but it's only big if you have a special someone to go with! There's a little rumor that if you kiss the one you love during the fireworks, you'll be with them forever.

But I don't have a special someone yet, and it's four days away. I'm running out of time!

That's why, I, Naruto Uzumaki, with my spiky blond hair and pretty blue eyes, have decided to trek on the journey of love and not stop until I'm with the one I can't be without!

Of course, it has to be a boy. Girls still have cooties to me.

That's why this time around I've come prepared! I've written up a list. Don't laugh, but yes, it's a list of people who I've ever been even remotely attracted to, ever. It took me all day to complete and even though I got a detention for not paying attention in class, it was completely worth it. You wanna see it? Of course you do, and I'll tell you everything about it too.

First on my list is Kiba. Of course, he's already my best friend and you know what they say, the best relationships come out of friendships, right? Besides, he's got this wild look about him that I've always thought was really cool and I heard from a few rumors that Kiba is an insanely good kisser. I've always wanted to see if that was true or not.

Then I have Neji because duh, he's the smartest boy in our high school, president of all the important clubs, and he's the best at Kendo! His hair is absolutely amazing and his eyes are so pretty. Did I mention he's older too? All that coolness is just my type; we would be a perfect match together, so don't laugh at me.

And if both of them didn't work out, I have Gaara since we were on okay terms and we can understand each other on a more personal level. He doesn't talk much but I've always thought that the quiet types were really cute. His red hair and green eyes are really beautiful, except when he's staring at you. Then it can get creepy.

After him I had Sai since I figured he already liked me, although he reminds me of Sasuke so much I'm not so sure about him. He is cute though, and he's pretty flamboyant, which may or may not be a good thing.

Next was Shikamaru, because I figured this would be another good example of opposites attract, and please, Shikamaru is by no means repulsive. He's kinda cute in his own way, and he's so non-drama that a relationship with him probably would be like floating on a cloud, no pun intended. If we can just get by his stalker Ino, I'm sure our future love would flourish at the festival!

Hah, then I put Rock Lee at the end, in case I reached complete and utter despair. No, don't look at me like that. With all that exercise I'm sure his body is amazing even if his face isn't all that hot. If I went out with him for even a week I'm sure that my body would end up as amazing as his too.

Then for kicks I added Sasuke. Wouldn't that be hilarious if instead of fighting we did…other equally exhausting things? Ew, bad thoughts. But seriously, I thought it'd be pretty funny if the 'loser' like me scored Konoha's hottie. Pfft, like I'd ever go out with him, anyway. I'll never reach the bottom of my list, that's for sure.

Then I signed it with my name and stamped it with some ink I stole from Sai's desk so that I won't forget to follow this list straight down and put my whole heart into it.

I, Naruto Uzumaki, will find love, just you wait.

* * *

Pretty short for an introductory, right?

If you were able to get through the first chapter, than I congratulate you! It'll get super fun as we go along, promise. This story will be updated every couple of days so please story alert this if you'd like to follow along! And don't forget to review and tell me what you think, it means alot to hear from you guys!


	2. Something More than Best Friends

Crushing on You

Chapter Two: Something More than Friends

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

…

I read today in the newspaper that the moon is going to be twenty-four percent bigger than normal, the biggest all year-round. This is a good sign considering the one I'm going after is my best friend, Kiba. He always did remind me of a wild, cute, and loyal dog. He _does_ have a dog-named Akamaru that hides in his bag whenever Kiba knows he's going to take a test. For me personally, I wasn't ever extremely fond of dogs; I always thought cats were pretty cool. But then again, this is a good example of how opposites attract…I guess.

I had always had stupid fantasies about what it would be like if I were to end up dating my best friend. I've known Kiba all my life, and he's the only one who knows everything about me, and vice versa. I don't think there would even be any awkwardness between us if we were dating because we're so comfortable with each other.

Still, I was nervous. My plan was to outright ask him on a date. I mean, Kiba respects straight-forwardness, and he'd never date the type that leave notes in his locker or something. It does take courage though, and right now I'm lacking it. I've been standing out in front of his homeroom classroom for a good ten minutes, trembling, and replaying over and over the worst results of my little experiment.

Then I see them coming down the hall and I want to hide. My friend Sakura Haruno and my rival Sasuke who looked so dumb in that tight blue cardigan that almost literally hugged his body the way Sakura's pink cardigan should've been doing instead of hanging off her shoulder. They look like a pair of colorful Skittles.

I wait until they get close enough before I smile and wave. "Good morning Sakura!" Then I grunt my 'good morning' to Sasuke who grunts right back at me and avoids my gaze. Sakura gives me a tight hug but her perfume is too heavy. Jeez, how does Sasuke stand it?

"What are you doing waiting out here?" She peers into the door's windows at Iruka's homeroom class, searching for something unusual. I spot Kiba through the window surrounded by a group of unknown people, making jokes and laughing. My face turns red.

"I was just…waiting for Kiba." Then things get incredibly awkward for me because I can feel this intense gaze that I know is not from Sakura and my eyes immediately drop down to the floor.

Sakura waves a hand. "Kiba? Oh, here, I'll call him for you." Thank god for Sakura and her distractions! She starts making all types of hand signals through the window to catch the brunet's attention. I am extremely grateful, although I would have rather Sasuke not be standing less than fifty meters away.

I glare at him and he glares back and we do that silently until all of a sudden Kiba slips out of the classroom door and Sakura is pulling Sasuke's arm down the hallway whispering about keeping our privacy.

I almost want to laugh at his disgruntled expression at being dragged along. He hates Sakura.

Kiba puts both hands in his pockets and leans against the wall with a neutral look on his face. "So? What's up Naruto?"

I hesitated on an answer and started doing that thumb-twiddling thing I always see Hinata do when she's talking to me. It doesn't help. It actually just makes my thumbs sore.

"Well, I…"

I paused again and began to blush. Kiba's smile was slowly started to fade from his face, and the confused look began setting in. Part of me hoped that the blush was working to boost my 'cute' effect, well, if I had one. Y'know.

"I was thinking, well, hoping…"

I can tell he's getting impatient with me now and I know that if I don't hurry up and tell him now he'll blow it off as a joke and go back inside. I blurt it out suddenly.

"!"

He blinks a few times, and then the wolfish smile comes back on his face. I've never felt more relief in my life. My heart is thumping way too fast.

"Sure. Today?" He grins at me, and I smile back. "Where?" He pauses and then his smile fades. "You're paying though, right?"

I laughed despite myself. One of my romantic dreams had something about being on the top of a building around sunset. I suppose that will work fine here. "Oh, uh, well, we can meet on the roof after school…"

He nods, bumping my arm with his fist and then wordlessly goes back into his classroom, and I'm so glad he didn't notice all the emotions running across my face. I almost wondered if he actually knew that he made a date with his best friend, but then I stop because that's not what I should be thinking about.

Then I smile wickedly as I march off to my own homeroom class. Nothing else matters right now, I've got a date with Kiba Inuzuka and life is good. For me, at least. When I get to homeroom Sasuke's face is so twisted up it looks like someone shoved an even bigger stick up his ass than usual.

He keeps growling and staring at my back throughout all my classes. So when I try and play a joke by flinging a paper ball his way he literally sent his fist flying into my jaw! And while we're scuffling during math class all I can think of is why Sasuke is so pissed off and why he's taking it out on me.

Yeah, I have detention now. It doesn't mean I'm going though; Sasuke can sit in that empty room by himself. I have a date, although no one knows about it but me, and I don't have any classes with Kiba at all. The best I can do is give him my version of a lustful look that Sakura says makes me look constipated.

Whatever. I've got a date.

But now school is nearly over and I know this because Sasuke keeps shooting me these angry looks now that he remembers he has detention right after this. I stare right back at him, and blow him a raspberry. He rolls his eyes. I give him the finger.

I hate him.

The bell rings and my heart sinks into my stomach so I take my time packing up my things, and Sasuke does too. He throws me a bored look.

"Don't be late," he murmurs and walks off.

I snorted at his retreating back. Since when have I ever served my detention with him? The last time we served detention together he fell asleep and I wrote things on his face with my trusty Sharpie pen. Then we fought, and got another detention.

But it doesn't matter, Grandma Tsunade be damned, I'm going on my date today. I waited until the back hallways were empty of students before I made my move and snuck up the fire escape to the roof. There's a nice breeze up here, I noticed when I moved to the edge and watched the other students leave the school.

I checked my watch. It was only three-thirty, and now I regret that I didn't set a time. Sasuke probably knows now that I'm not coming and my god, I hope he doesn't go telling Tsunade about my disappearance. I'll put horrible things in his locker tomorrow if he does.

While I wait for him I start eating the leftover chocolates Sakura dumped on me during lunch because she didn't like the taste of them. I'm on my third to last one when Kiba finally shows up, and waves.

"Hey, sorry it took my so long, Asuma-sensei thought he could teach me biology…again." He grinned at me and tossed his bag aside, sitting right next to me. I don't miss how our thighs are already touching.

"No teacher can teach you anything." I laugh, and he joins in and soon we're making jokes and having our normal conversations.

I offer him a piece of chocolate, and then I have another piece for myself.

Kiba tilts his head up to the sky. "The roof scenery up here is pretty sweet, isn't it?" I nod.

"We should do this way more often, there's no one up here to bother us. Haven't had a good conversation with my buddy in a minute." He shrugs and waits for me to answer, but I can't. I stutter out my approval and he starts talking again because my mind is filling up with all types of thoughts and ideas on how often we'll be able to do this in the future, especially after the festival.

Then we talk some more and Kiba does a really great Sasuke impression. It's hilarious. We're laughing so hard that it takes my hand to fall on top of Kiba's for me to remember that this is supposed to be a date and not another hangout session.

I look down at our hands. We were both reaching for the last piece of chocolate. I start blushing. "Uh, sorry, you can have it."

He raises and eyebrow at me. "Nah, it's cool, it's yours anyway. You eat it." I'm about to open my mouth and protest but he gives me a look that shuts me up right away, so I nod and eat the chocolate, chewing slowly.

"You're chewing it like it's pretty damn tasty." He laughs and I smile at him with a new idea.

It's bold, but I decide to go for it. "You wanna taste it?"

Kiba is confused, but I take the advantage and lean forward. The kiss is light, since he is my first and I'm pretty shy. It's awkward to be kissing your best friend, but I'm getting some sort of thrill from it. He blinks a few times, and then his eyelids flutter shut.

"Sweet…" he murmurs and kisses me again, shyly, like this is new to him too. I think the rumors were right; Kiba is a good kisser although he's the only person I've ever kissed. I can tell he's being gentle, but it makes me self-aware of everything going on around us. Then suddenly the kisses are feverish and it takes me a long while to get used to kissing back with my tongue. My fingers bury deep into his hair like I see people in movies do. It's nice.

When we finally break apart for air, he's laughing at my face. "Are you okay?"

My head is still swimming from lack of air, but I nod. "Yeah…I just…didn't expect that." He laughs again and sits up, pulling me into a sitting position again. I smile and rest my hand besides his.

"I knew you liked me as much as I liked you." I give him my brightest smile, but the look of confused on his makes me regret what I said. Maybe it was too soon.

"Yeah, sure…huh?" I take back my hand. He shakes his head at me, with locks of chocolate brown head nearly slapping me in the face from sitting so close to him. I take a good look at our surroundings; the sun is beginning to set.

"W-Well, maybe not like but…" Now I'm the one confused. Shouldn't we be confessing instead of having an awkward conversation?

"You make it sound like we're in some type of relationship or something." He was laughing at my face…probably.

I hit him in the arm, blushing slightly despite my frustration. This wasn't what I had pictured after giving him my first kiss. He stops his laughing for a moment and then his face gets serious and he puts either hand on my shoulder.

"Naruto, you know how close you and I are, I didn't think you meant this in a romantic way…I thought you kind just wanted to hang out and stuff…"

I wasn't ready to go down that quickly. "B-But that kiss…"

"It was nice. Really, really nice." Now we're both blushing. "But I thought you were just curious, and besides, you look like a girl. It's easy to forget." The blush is gone, and now I'm scowling at him. I punch him in the arm and he laughs. "I'm kidding Naruto! What I'm trying to say is, I don't want a relationship or anything. We're more like the non-physical friends, uh, what's the word…platonic, you know?"

Platonic.

Ow, that word hurts. But I nod anyway and wish him well when he grabs his things and leaves me alone on the roof. Ah, the sun is setting and I should probably get home too, I just didn't expect this not to work out well since it was just Kiba and I but I guess—

"Oi, dobe, what are you doing up here?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound voice of his deep voice. I turn around and my jaw drops to see him actually perched on top of the roof's entry door. I know he's pretty athletic and all but isn't that overdoing it just to look cool? And his pissed off face is ruining the cool entry anyway…

"S-S-Sasuke! What are you doing here?" I'm rubbing at my arms just to keep from fainting from the scare of seeing him suddenly after, well, technically after I got dumped by my best friend. It's a lot of take in, you know.

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly annoyed. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? Tsunade-sama's looking for you, and I can't go home until we serve our detentions at the same time so move your ass, we're going." He leaps down gracefully and starts moving through the door. For once, I don't have anything to say in return so I grab my things and start following him back down the dark fire escape.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn." I'll take that as him wanting me to continue.

"Did you…see anything?" My face feels entirely too hot. He stops and whirls on me, nearly pushing me against the staircase wall.

"What?" His eyes are making me nervous. I gulp.

"I mean…anything…before…"

There's a knowing smile on his face. "I showed up as Kiba was leaving." His breath is washing over my face and smells like oranges he must've eaten. I believe him, and I'm incredibly thankful that he didn't see anything; how embarrassing would that have been.

He stares at me for a while longer and then with his thumb he starts wiping the corner of my mouth, like a mother would do to her child. His fingers are warm.

"What the hell? Stop that!" I slap his hand angrily and huff, blushing oh-so-against my will. He looks smug for a moment and then rolls his eyes, beginning our trek down the stairs.

"You had a smudge of chocolate left," he says quietly, but loud enough for me to hear. _Now _I'm the angry one.

"Hey, how did – S-Sasuke! Oi, Sasuke! Stop walking so fast and answer me damnit!"

I guess I can go and cross Kiba off my list when I get home and list due to 'platonic' reasons. That's fine, I still have five more days left and six guys.

And I'm not giving up just yet.

* * *

To all those who favorite'd and story alert'd this story, thank you. Please review! :)


	3. Something More than Senpai

Crushing on You

Chapter Three: Something More than Senpai

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

…

"So, now you're gay, and…" Kiba paused to wrap his tongue around his lollipop. "Now we're after this Hyuuga. Neji, right?"

"Jeez Kiba. Can you get any louder for me? I don't think everyone heard you." Although we're sitting in a crowded, noisy, lunchroom, I can't help but feel more and more self-aware of my own plans, as if everyone could hear us. In a very long phone call the same night Kiba rejected me, I told him about my plans. The hardest part was explaining to my childhood friend that I was gay. Wait, no…that might've been the funniest part.

He didn't believe me at first actually, it was when I listed off the possible girlfriends I could acquire that made us both sure that men was the way to go…I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Sakura, Ino, Temari, or Tenten, just…ew. At least we both agree on that.

Still, he can't believe that I've gone from him to Neji. I know he wants to use the word 'desperate' but I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve right now; give me a break.

He pulls the lollipop out of his mouth and gave it a few good licks that make me involuntarily shudder. I feel like he's doing this on purpose. "I mean, I'm not saying that Neji is a bad choice or anything…honestly, his cousin is pretty damn hot."

I'm rolling my eyes. Figures he goes from me to Hinata in less than twenty-four hours and still finds enough pride to criticize me. It's part of the reason I love Kiba so much. I laugh softly and he waves his arms around exasperatingly.

"But he's a senior, which means he's graduating this year. We're freshman, what makes you think that an eighteen year old will go for a short blond kid like you?" He raises any eyebrow. I punch him in the shoulder.

I wag my finger at him. "Hey, don't describe me like I'm ugly or something. I'm pretty cute." Now I'm getting really nervous, I feel like I'm blushing so I avoid Kiba's stare and look around the noisy cafeteria. Immediately I spot Sakura's table, filled to the brim with laughing girls and attractive guys, all talking about things no one cares about. Sakura's got her arm slung tightly around Sasuke's shoulders, but it's obvious that he'd rather be anywhere than next to her. I bet her perfume smells again.

It almost makes me feel sorry for him. Almost. I'm still laughing on the inside.

But it's Kiba's voice that brings me back to the task at hand. We're talking about my plan, unlike with Kiba, direct confrontation may or may not be effective. Depending on the place we're at or how many people are around, he may dismiss my confession altogether, and I'll be out of another potential partner for life.

This time however, I'm prepared. It's a bit old-fashioned, but I decided to go along with the "love letter in the shoe-cubby". I think it's a classic that if nothing else, Neji will respect.

Kiba thinks it's funny. "What if you find out he's not gay?"

I shrugged. Truthfully, I thought of this beforehand, which is partly why I decided to confess through a letter. That way, he can spend all day contemplating on whether my name is feminine or not, and then if he's really interested.

"Plus," I say offhandedly, slurping up my ramen noodles, "I thought I saw him making out with that redhead over there, Gaara, a few months ago." I point to Sakura's table, at the stoic redhead getting yanked around my Ino's beast-like hands. He looks just as pissed off as Sasuke does. I glance at Sasuke again just for kicks.

Sakura's making kissy faces at him. Now I really do feel bad for him.

…But I'm still laughing on the inside.

"Gaara?" Kiba wrinkles up his nose in contempt. I laugh again, and down the thick, warm broth with a satisfying sigh and a loud burp. "He's another guy on your list right?"

I nod. Then Kiba grins with a knowing smile that makes me shiver. "And so is Sasuke. True love, I tell ya." I roll my eyes and try to hit him, but he dodges. I'm fully regretting telling him so much, but it's the least I can do for trying to seduce him. I've tried to explain to him that originally Sasuke was a joke, but it would beg the obvious question why I haven't erased him yet.

My eyes gaze back over to Sakura's table, and I tune out the sound of everything else. I'm studying Sasuke's face, the way his mouth is contorted into a deep scowl, and his eyes are trying to avoid the girls that are talking to him. His body is tense, their hands are all over him, and I don't…know why I keep him on the list.

I've been staring at him for too long, because he looks up and we lock eyes for a few seconds. The frown on his lips dissipates into a smirk. I blush and look away at Kiba who waggles his eyebrows at me.

"Listen, my true love," I pull out the envelope, crisp and white with neat writing. "…is the name on his love letter. That's who we're focused on. Ne-ji." I roll his name on my tongue nice and slow, making Kiba roll his eyes and finally bite down on his lollipop.

"Right, Neji. Good luck with that." He shakes his head and I stand up from the cramped table and start walking backwards, facing Kiba with a victorious smile.

I wink at him. "Don't worry, in a few hours you'll see me on the arm of-oomph!" I bump into someone and we both go tumbling down. Kiba calls my name, but when I open my eyes and wait for my vision to focus again, it's Sasuke's face I'm staring into.

My face turns red immediately. Half of the cafeteria quiets its chatter to listen to us. "W-Watch where you're going, idiot!"

"You were the one walking backwards, and idiot is my word to use on you." He snorts angrily and stands up, brushing himself off. He outreaches his hand and for a second I'm thinking he's going to help me up but his hand goes past me, and picks up my fallen letter. Sasuke frowns immediately.

"Neji?" The look in his dark eyes is piercing me, like somehow I need to explain myself.

I stand up and snatch the envelope out of his hands, and my feet carry me right out of the cafeteria, past Kiba's calling of my name, and Sakura of asking what's wrong.

It's only until I'm standing in front of Neji's locker that I realize that I'm breathing heavily and I'm still blushing. I wanna punch him so bad, but I have to task to complete. Carefully, my shaking hands grasp the lock, but my mind blanks, and I can't remember the article I read last night over the Internet on how to break into a locker. I wish my phone had Internet that all the cool phones do. Damn Iruka. I'm fumbling, but it isn't working, and I'm definitely sure someone's going to catch me soon.

"Dumbass…" Someone breathes hotly against my ear, but it isn't orange that I smell, this time it's tomato, and it makes me want to barf. Do you think he'd let me step out the way, question him for following me, come up with some lame excuse for why I'm standing outside a senior's locker?

No, I don't get a chance to do any of that, because before I know it, Sasuke pushes me right up against the cold metal of the locker, and he's only half-pressed against me, with his hands covering mine.

"Sasuke—you dick, g-get off me!" He's not listening to my chortled cries.

Smoothly, as if he's done it a million times, he moves the combination lock to three predicted numbers. With a soft click, the lock clatters to the ground. When the pressure is lifted off my body and I'm allowed to move again, I turn around angrily and completely ready to spazz out on this asshole.

But when I look up, he's already gone.

I panicked all through the rest of my classes. I was shaking so violently that Kiba thought I was having some sort of seizure. He just doesn't understand though, love confessions are hard. Although it's not like I ran into Neji in the hallways or anything. It's just…

I keep running into Sasuke.

As if I can't stand him enough, every time I see him and he avoids my gaze I feel…really guilty. Like I need to…thank him or something. It's driving me crazy, so I take the opposite route to class, and I skip our shared math class. I sit outside in the parking lot, trying to clear my head. In actuality, I don't feel very confident about this one, not like how I did with Kiba.

The more I think about it...maybe everyone was right. Maybe I was getting over my head. But it's already Tuesday, and the festival is in less than a week. What else could I possibly do? I mean, the possibility of snagging someone this late is just demolishing my plans to—

"Naruto?"

Mm, don't recognize that voice. I turned around slowly, and then choke on my own spit. Neji was four times more handsome up close with my crumpled love letter in his hand. He waits until I'm done gagging before he speaks again.

"You…asked me to visit you?"

I nod weakly. "But the note said—"

"The roof, I know. I was on my way but I saw you alone and figured now would be better than ever, I suppose." My heart stops. He already knew who I was? He smirks at me, and opens the envelope slowly, and forces me to watch embarrassedly as he re-reads it.

"So?" He looks so bored. "What did you want to say?"

I fumble with my fingers as I stand and dust myself off. I'm a nervous wreck, but somehow I find the courage to start my embarrassed blush and wide-eyed look. "I, uh, kinda like you so…"

He raises an eyebrow, and crosses his arms over his chest. I'm watching his hair sway with the slight movement and I'm completely mesmerized. God, he's hot.

"I was…well, I was hoping…thatyou'dgooutwithme." I smile weakly. I gotta stop jumbling my words together like that, it just makes things worse.

He smiles back, and my heart swells. But then he laughs and shrugs. "Sorry, Naruto. I can't do that."

Yes! Kiba that loser who's always been doubting me since the—wait, what?

"Eh…I…"

"I said no." He mouths the two letters to me as if I'm some kind of stupid kid. N.O.

They almost feel like bricks to the face. Nothing compared to actual bricks to the face though, so don't worry. You won't know what they feel like until it happens to you. Trust me.

I scratch my head, and then I give my hair a good shake, making sure it's in its bed head sexy style. I rub my hands over my face, but everything's smooth and perfect. No pimples, or food residue. I even run my fingers over my teeth for good measure, but this only kinda pisses Neji off.

"No, there's nothing wrong with you, I just don't want to be caught up in the middle of your relationship problems, that's all. Besides, you seem a bit too innocent for me."

Innocent. I splutter, embarrassed. Maybe I didn't hear him right. Maybe Kiba was right. Maybe I'm crazy. ""I'm not innocent!" And, what do you mean, 'relationship problems?' Neji, I'm sing—"

"And that was why you were so pressed up against Uchiha when you at my locker earlier? I'm not so busy that I'd miss seeing someone trying to break into my locker."

My slacked jaw actually makes the bastard chuckle. Damn him.

"That's what I thought. Good luck with him though, he must be hard to get along with." Neji nods along with his words, as if he understands me. But he doesn't.

This is one of those anime or manga-type situations where the entire thing is just one big MIS-understanding. I can't pick my jaw from off the ground to even save myself; I don't know what to say. I just can't believe I'm losing one of the hottest guys in the school because he thinks I'm dating my enemy.

…At least know which way he swings though. I'll tell Kiba later.

My attention get refocused when, and I kid you not, Sasuke comes back from wherever he conveniently ran off to, fist bumps wit Neji, and they both exchange high and mighty glances, like as if it were some club greeting. I was ready to commit seppuku.

So when Sasuke says mischievously, "See you for practice later."

And Neji nods and looks at me, in my completely frizzed out mode and says, "Yeah, see you."

I swear he winked.

But it wasn't even that that had pissed me off the most, it was when Sasuke didn't say anything against the accusation! And all I could say was,

"I'm..not….gugrl…gahhh…."

You'd be surprised how clever those four words could be, it was how I got a free ride home from Sasuke later that day since I missed the last bus. How he ever was able to drive at fifteen I'll never know, but it is the same excuse I used when I had to explain to Iruka that I was puking because Sasuke's winning face is disgusting and not because I want to be an Abercrombie and Fitch model, like he likes to believe of me. I mean, I still do think I have what it takes but…now isn't the time, you know what I mean?

I barely even had enough energy to cross out Neji's name on the list.

And lemme tell you something about ramen. Doesn't look as delicious going out as it does going in.

* * *

All your feedback was absolutely wonderful! You have no idea how amazing it was to hear from all of you, really. Special shout-outs to you guys, **LovelySpiral**, **KairiSama21**, **OrangeRamenCup**, and **xXMayuXx**. You guys really make my day. :]


	4. Something More than Classmates

Crushing on You

Chapter Four: Something More than Classmates

Beta: strawberries and napkins

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

…

"This is crazy, I can't do this. No way, this is insane. And I would know insane, I happen to like insane. But I can't do this, nuh-uh, no. Nope. Can't."

"No, Naruto. You have to, this is perfect. This is awesome, there's no way he'll say no, not like this. We've got it this time. You have to do this!"

Again, I shook my head like a crazy wildman, completely flushed. I mean, it sounded like a good idea last night when I had decided to raid Iruka's alcohol in order to ignore my embarrassment and pain from Neji's rejection, but now I realize that calling Kiba and hashing out new plans with him is not something one should do when intoxicated.

To be honest, I don't even remember most of the conversation. I just remember that I was mixing my third cranberry and vodka and Kiba was in my ear saying,

"I'm telling you man, this plan will definitely work. I saw it happen yesterday during eighth period! This guy, some guy, he just walked right into the classroom and shouted, 'Azusa, I love you! Please go out with me!' And she totally said yes, it was ridiculous."

And so I muffled a laugh. "That is ridiculous."

"I mean, he got detention for doing it, but he also got a girlfriend. And it got me thinking, maybe if you did the same, I mean, put the next guy on the spot like that, he won't be able to refuse you. Besides, that guy was ugly as hell, but the chick was pretty hot, which makes me think that if I do that too Hinata would go out with me, y'know?"

And I think my next line after all that junk was something like, 'Mmm, ahh…definitely...'

I think Kiba had a hard time understanding that I was pretty smashed last night. So he goes on saying stuff like:

"Are you listening? It'd be cool…blahblah…the next cutest guy…blah…Sasuke's an asshole…"

I shook my head too vigorously at that statement and spilled my drink all over my shirt. So I got another, and tried to listen to Kiba ramble about surprise dates and relationships and how hot Hinata is in her gym uniform but whatever. All I know is, people act stupid when they're surprised, Gaara's next on my list, the festival is this Saturday, and I'm still single sooo…

That's how I ended up here. Outside of his chemistry class, sweating like a dog and with the worst hangover of my life. I'm incredibly nervous. It's not going well for me today. Still, I can't say I don't appreciate Kiba's enthusiasm for me.

Back to currently. My stomach is rumbling like a car, but I'm ready. Slowly, my hand goes on the doorknob and I twist is slowly, pulling it open without making too much of a sound. Because the door is in the back of the room, not even the teacher notices.

I take a deep breath, in a few seconds I'll just—

"HEY GAARA! MY BUDDY NARUTO'S GOT SOMETHING TO SAY TO YOU!"

Did I mention the rough push? Yeah, I was shoved on my ass in the middle of his class. Did I mention that this is Sasuke's math class too?

It's Sasuke's math class too.

This is the part where I stand up, gather my wits, and say what I came here to say, right? Then you must not know me at all, because I fell down twice trying to stand, and everyone just kept laughing at me as if I was the entertainment of the day.

I glanced at the teacher. Oh, he's writing a pink slip. Fabulous.

I look back out the door. Kiba giving me thumbs up and a smile, and I give him the finger…without a smile.

And Sasuke? He rolls his eyes and pulls a book out of his bag, and starts reading like I'm not even there. That pisses me off, but I can't be pissed off right now because I'm so nervous I'm nearly shitting myself.

Someone yells, "Get to it, Uzumaki!" And for the first time I see Gaara, completely floored by his looks. That messy red hair and piercing green eyes along with the cute way he's blushing is so adorable I can just—

"Ahem!" This kid with the face paint is really starting to piss me off.

Oh, right. Here goes nothing.

"S-Sabaku Gaara!" I go in for the heroic point, right at him. His blush triples in intensity but the kid sitting next to him just sneered and pointedly removed himself from the area surrounding Gaara. But whatever, my hand was starting to hurt anyway. So I go in for the kill.

"Please go out with me!"

Ah, that got Sasuke's attention. His book falls limply to the floor and his face pretty much matches everyone else's in the room. A big, wide, 'Oh.' I would've laughed had I not been trying to hold my pee in since this began.

And then the girls break out into applause for some reason, which is kind irritating because I never fully got to hear Gaara's answer as the school's security officers barge in and drag me by the arms out of the classroom.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll take care of this for you!" Kiba shouts to me while my feet are lifelessly being dragged across linoleum floors, and my stomach starts quivering. Great start to a great day...

* * *

I'm standing beside my locker, filing away books from the first four periods. Lunch wasn't for another three hours, and that was supposed to be when I was forced to be in the same area as Sasuke at the same time, so why all of a sudden was he leaning against a neighboring locker looking extremely pissed off at me.

"Nice performance back there," he snarled at me, and for the first time I notice that his shirt is slightly unbuttoned. And that he actually looks a bit disheveled. An Uchiha mildly disheveled? Perhaps the end of the world has come upon us.

I laugh nervously, resuming my task as I speak. "Yeah, everyone keeps saying that I could have a future in acting and after that I'm really starting to see myself in a brand new light where I feel like I can do anything. Really, Sasuke, I think that you should try chasing your dreams and maybe—"

His arm flies out so fast I don't catch it until my locker is shut so quickly that it almost catches my fingers along with it. He threateningly backs me up against my own locker, hovering over me with his height.

"This isn't a game, Uzumaki. Just what do you think you're doing?" He hisses right in my face, blowing caramel smelling breath all over me. It's strange, but I'm too frightened by him to poke fun at that moment.

"Uh..." I gulp loudly. "Testing out the seme side of me? I mean, in all honesty I think I would top Gaara so—"

He moves in closer and now I'm sure that he can feel my heart beating wildly in my chest.

My eyes scan the area around us. Why does it seem like the hallways clear whenever Sasuke decides to bully me?

I try to move; Sasuke doesn't budge. It pisses me off. Why does he always do this whenever I'm trying to score? He's always doing everything possible just so he can piss me off!

"You are such a cock-blocker, you know that?" I snap suddenly, stunning both him and I into a silence. His eyes widen doubly, and he takes a few steps back, as if I had hurt him seriously somehow. I rub my arms, like by Sasuke drawing his body away from me I had lost heat.

He opens his mouth, but we both hear footsteps coming our way and snap our heads to the right. Sasuke growls low in his throat, but I break out into a wide grin.

"Gaara!" I say happily, outreaching my arms for a hug, but instead Gaara just walks up to me and slams three of his heaviest textbooks into my chest, knocking the wind out of me. As I cough and splutter, he turns his back on me.

"Carry my books to class from now on, got it?" He looks at me from the corner of his eye and I melt. He was actually blushing.

Adorable! I can get used to this seme thing!

He spares Sasuke a glance, so quickly that I miss it, but Sasuke doesn't because he gets this look on his face like he's ready to pounce Gaara. I ignore it, nod, and scamper after my new boyfriend…or at least this is the way I'm going to announce it as official.

I don't see Sasuke for the rest of the day; he even skips out on lunch, and unsurprisingly so does Sakura. Really, are those two that attached at the hip? Get married already.

* * *

When I point it out to Kiba, he shrugs unenthusiastically. "They're probably going to sign up for the study overseas program."

"Huh?" I say, even though I'm more interested in my ramen noodles than this conversation. I was trying to poke fun at Sasuke, instead I'm just listening about more of his future achievements as a wealthy 16-year old.

"There was a raffle program early this morning for a trip to study in Paris, everyone says that Sasuke's gonna win because the entire school staff is in love with him, some way or another."

I make a loud slurping noise, sucking down a fistful of noodles at once. Kiba cringes, resuming his card shuffling. "What about Sakura?" I question. "Her parents are already in Paris, it could be beneficial if she won instead."

"Pffft," Kiba chuckled. "Are we really discussing which brat has more privilege to get the hell out of our lives?"

Even I had to laugh at that, loudly. Slurping away at the last of my broth, I set the microwave-safe foam bowl aside. "...True." I eye the cards in his hand. "Deal."

But as soon as Kiba starts dealing out the playing cards to him and I, Gaara walks up suddenly, with a slow hand wave. Kiba sighs and puts his head in his hand, rocking his body back and forth gently. Asshole.

I glare at him although he can't see me, then I perk up quickly.

"Hey, we're playing UNO. You in?"

Gaara raises an eyebrow and shrugs, taking a seat next to me, sitting close enough that our arms brush against each other. I grin to myself, this may just work out beautifully.

* * *

I walk into school on Thursday feeling like a brand new man, holding Gaara's books in one arm, and Gaara's hand in my other.

"It's okay if I walk you to homeroom, right?" I ask him, squeezing his hand. Gaara nods, which makes me smile. I'm going to have the cutest date at the festival this Saturday! And to think that it's only a day, and finally I've completed the task. It's only Thursday! Not even Sasuke can mess this one up.

I open the classroom door for him, and let him walk in, giving him a peck on the cheek before I pass him his books.

"Meet me in the West Hall staircase later," Gaara whispers in my ear. I grin widely, completely reminding myself of yesterday's after school make out session.

As I walk out of the classroom and into the hall, I pass by Sakura and Sasuke, again. You have no idea how tired I am of seeing pink and blue cardigans I'm ready to gauge my own eyes out. I try to hurry my steps and pull out my phone to act like I'm definitely into something that isn't looking at them.

"Naruto!"

Damnit.

"Heeey, Sakura-chan, what's going on? You look nice today." Inside, I cringe. What the hell is wrong with me? I don't even bother to greet Sasuke. He's an ass, why should I? But he's staring at me, not angrily, but he's definitely staring at me. I shiver, and keep my eyes on Sakura's green ones.

She touches my arm playfully with the arm that isn't permanently entwined in Sasuke's. "I heard about your crazy love confession to Gaara, sounds just like something you'd do too! I'm happy to hear all about your new beau!" She waggles her eyebrows at me. I'm wondering how they stay cool when they're so close to each other while wearing nylon.

I smile brightly. "Sounds like me, huh? Of course it does, I _am_ the amazing Uzumaki you know." She giggles at my hand gestures and we fall into a series of light conversations while I totally ignore Sasuke's creepy gaze. When the warning bell sounds, Sakura and I both look up at the ceiling for a second, expectant.

"Well, we better get going, right Sasuke-kun?" She pets his arm lovingly. He shrugs her off and grunts. She doesn't even look fazed by his lack of enthusiasm. I feel so bad for her, but someone's gotta love Sasuke—even with that stick in his ass.

I wave. "See you guys around." And then I turn on my heel and walk briskly down the hall, hoping to get back down to the second floor and into my own homeroom before the morning announcements turn on, but that doesn't work out for me.

_"Is it on yet? It is? Oh, huh. Ahem, good Morning Konoha High! We'd like to start you off by announcing the winner participant of our 'Study Abroad to Paris' raffle! Out of one hundred and sixty two contestants, we finally only have one winner. Please congratulate your new transfer overseas student— Sabaku Gaara!"_

My jaw hangs open. For once in my life, I actually have nothing to say.

* * *

Kiba is choking on his sandwich as he laughs at me. I'm pray that something will get lodged in his throat and he'll die. He laughs again in his stupid hyena way of laughing. "This is hilarious, no, this is beyond hilarious. This is downright hysterical!"

"Kiba, please—"

"No, no, no. I gotta do this, just for the sake of doing it. Let's just put this in chronicle order, shall we? So, Wednesday morning we come up this great plan to get Gaara to go out with you and he _does._"

"Kiba, I swear to God—"

"And that very same day the oversea contests gets held, and unlike expectations of either Sakura and Sasuke winning that contest, Thursday morning, less than twenty hours of entering a relationship, you, and the entire damn school at that, finds out that your boyfriend is leaving for _Paris?_"

I sigh, staring at the deep brown brother smothering my spicy noodles. I wanna cry, but I'm not going to do that in front of Kiba because he'll laugh at me for years to come. Is there some hit out for me up in heaven that specifically says 'Uzumaki Naruto—must not find a date for the Konoha Festival. Or get laid. Ever.' Because I'm about ready to change religions now. I was avoiding Gaara all day too, I was just too upset to deal.

Look at me, I'm conjuring up crazy ideas to why I'm in a constant state of singularity and I'm still being dumped anyway. I'm suffering from Post-Traumatic Dumped Disorder, and I've just made it a real mental condition.

"What the hell are you talking about? This is a serious thing going on right now, you should be—oh." Kiba shut up. Kiba nevers shuts up unless it's something important. That must mean that—

"Naruto. We need to talk. Alone." I don't even need to look up from my lunch to know who's talking to me. I look up and face Gaara square in the eye. It's hard to tell what he's thinking. I wish he would at least look sad, and that way I wouldn't feel like throwing up a lunch I couldn't even eat yet.

He glances at Kiba menacingly, quieting any little snide comment he might have said as I stood up, brushing dirt off the bottom on my pants. I'm thankful for that. We walk slowly, arms touching to a desolate area outside, by a tree. Trying to calm myself, I lean against the bark and rub my arms softly, trying to erase the feeling of his touch.

"So?"

"So." Gaara's mouth is set in a firm line. "I guess you heard…" He trails off, unsure of what to say. I just nod grimly, deciding that this time I'll do it for myself.

"I guess we can't…be together then, huh? My only question is, why did you sign up for the stupid thing if something like this could happen?" My voice raises an octave, the more upset I get. I never really got a chance to get to know Gaara, to see if he could've been the one. I almost want to accuse him of using this as an excuse to get away from me, but I don't say so, because even I know how absurd that would sound.

His eyes widen doubly. "But I didn't—"

"Gaara, Naruto! I hope I'm not interrupting on something lovey-dovey am I?" Sakura squeals and releases Sasuke, instantly attaching herself to Gaara's arm. I wonder if she just has a thing for stoic, incredibly handsome boys, and it's not just Sasuke. I store that information for a less-tensed moment. I think Sasuke deserves to know my theory, since no one deserves to be played around with pink-haired girls.

Gaara's face melts into his own unresponsive mode. He's looking right through Sakura, right into Sasuke's eyes. They're having a conversation no one can hear, some language only emo boys get, but eventually Gaara glances at me with a half-smirk and says,

"Nope. Nothing romantic at all."

Sakura keeps on jabbering. "Well, congratulations on winning the raffle, even though I wanted it more you know than you!" Then her tone softens when she looks back and forth between us. "I…I always thought that long-distance relationships were very romantic, you know?"

Oh, look at that. Even Sakura comes down from her imaginary cloud of happiness sometimes.

I nod softly, but I just can't force myself to play along. From the corner of my eye, I can see Kiba walking to join our group of awkward conversations. He assumes the role of asshole best friend and glares Sasuke into oblivion.

Sasuke doesn't even acknowledge his presence.

Eventually, Sakura finds a reason to pull her and Sasuke out of the awkwardness. "Sasuke, we've still got that errand to run, remember? We should get going." She waves to both of us as she and Sasuke walk off. But just as they get right out of earshot, Sasuke looks over his shoulder, right at me, with this…this successful look on his face. It passes as quickly as it happens, that I almost don't believe it does until Kiba leans up and whispers in my ear after Gaara and I share our last kiss and he leaves me, too.

"Sasuke…is an unbelievable asshole." I nod along slowly, watching Uchiha's retreating back that seems to be _radiating_ triumph.

But haven't I been saying that since the beginning?

* * *

Aaah, love, in all shapes and forms and sizes. Anyway, I really hope you at least chuckled at any part of this story, and if you DID, leave me a review and tell me. If you found a typo (because I'm clumsy like that), do...tell me, I hate finding them afterwards. (But doesn't everybody?) Anyways, thanks to all the people who are following this story and leaving such positive reviews, you guys are the coolest. :]


	5. Something More than Acquaintances

Crushing on You

Chapter Five: Something More than Acquaintances

Beta: strawberries and napkins

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Lunchables.

…

To actively fight back against my…disorder, I began to just eat. All the time. A career in Abercrombie and Fitch be damned, I'm drowning my sorrows in cupcakes and whipped cream.

Sure, it may be disgusting to anyone who's sitting next to me to see how I'm able to swallow everything inside a Lunchables container at once (plastic and all!) in Kakashi-sensei's class without him caring but…this is Kakashi-sensei we're talking about. I've been eating in all of my classes (some more successful than others) because I couldn't help it. I'm pretty much a sweets addict now.

Mm, I have a newfound love of coffeecake ever since I found them in the vending machines.

"Coffeee cakeee…" I moaned, shoveling the cake bar into my mouth whole, ignoring the disgusted groan coming from Kiba beside me.

"What the fuck Naruto, that's gross. When did you become such a fat girl?" He motioned to my open backpack filled with sugary treats. I ignored him, but of course Kiba needs to step on my feelings too! "We're gonna start calling you fat girl names. You like the name Bess? You like coffee cake Bess?"

"Bite me." I snatched my bag closed, huffing, trying to dry swallow the cake. You would think because it works for cartoon characters that it would work for me. It doesn't. So I start choking. You would also think Kiba would panic and try to help me, right?

Nope. Instead, he goes inside my bag, rustles through my snacks to the bottom and then pulls out my crumpled list. The list of boys.

I reach out with one hand, trying to snatch it back, but then I can feel the cake slide down my throat uncomfortably, so I had to excuse myself while I focus on something more important. Out of the corner of my eye, I painfully watch him read down my list, amused. I attempt to clear my throat to help swallow the massive lump of cake that was the size of Asia. It didn't help much, but I think I'll live to see the end of study hall without choking to death.

"Ow, oh god…" I groaned loudly, hacking back any residue I could still feel in my windpipe. Food be damned. I'll never eat anything ever again in all my life.

For the first time since my path of destruction, Kiba dropped my paper out of his eyesight and said, "Will you stop being a drama queen for once? I have an idea."

"Oh? Then I'm definitely not going to use it." I rolled my eyes at him and glanced at my backpack. Suddenly deciding to be spontaneous for the day, I turned the pack over and covered the steps in my packaged goods.

So, unsurprisingly, Sasuke would show up anywhere there are a bundle of sugary treats around, right? Because Sasuke has nothing better to do but torture me. Everyday.

However, I'm going to be the bigger person and not kick him in the head this morning. Instead I give him my best smile. "Oh hey Sasuke. Want a Twinkie?"

For some reason my mood perks up when my comment makes Sasuke smirk at me, and then his eyes cut towards Kiba, or rather, what was in Kiba's hands. "What's that?"

Kiba blinked slowly. "I'm sorry, but why are you here? No really, _why _are you here?" I'm staring at his damn cardigan. God that blue color reminds me of the blueberry slice of pie I had for breakfast this morning. I want to puke.

My idiot friend continued on as Sasuke's eyes slowly narrowed. "Are you looking for your pink-haired super-friend sidekick? We haven't seen her. So look somewhere else."

Sasuke sent a chilling glare Kiba's way that conveyed promises of death and pain and I'm not sure I'm going to help him with that. They glared at each other but eventually Kiba had to avert his gaze because no one beats Sasuke in glaring. He drew his eyes back to me, forcing me to hold his gaze. "Naruto, you look…sick."

Why did his voice get all breathy like that? It almost sounded…sweet.

My breath hitched. Something strange was happening inside of me because I couldn't find myself looking at anything that wasn't those dark eyes now. There the creepiest part about him you know. And I really want to know why his eyes are black or why even with that tight sweater he has to unbutton his uniform shirt and show off his collarbone. Oh god, I should stop. I'm becoming redundant about Sasuke's beauty now and it's hurting my pride.

I must be going insane. "I think I'm going to be sick." I hopped to my feet and pushed past the both of them, straight to the bathroom, so I could empty out my stomach.

* * *

Kiba found me again after fifth period, and this time he brought his friend. Now, while I am thankful that Kiba was kind enough to search for this bastard to seems to show up to school whenever it's convenient, I don't remember ever asking Kiba to be my wingman.

But, I never do have control over Kiba, or anything he decides to do. So instead I just grinned a bit when I saw him. "Hey Kiba."

"Hi," he said curtly, and then pushed his friend forward. "This is Sai."

Sai looked me up and down, nodded approvingly, and then softly said, "Hello, Naruto."

I crossed my hands over my chest, as manly as I could be while trying not to acknowledge that this is the next boy on my list, and technically I'm trying to bag him. "I know who Sai is, dumbass. And why the hell would you bring him here when we all obviously have class right now?"

This is where Kiba's face broke up into a really huge grin, and pushed Sai a bit closer to me. I'm wondering what kind of gay guy Kiba takes me for. "Sai has something to say to you."

"You do?" I stutter, and his intense stare made me flush. It reminds me a lot of—

"Yes I do." Sai hovered over me with a gentle smile, making me feel really small. "I heard you were single again, so I came to ask you out."

Kiba moved around Sai's frame to give me a large dumb grin and two thumbs up. I rolled my eyes and then turned back to Sai. "Y-You really wanna date me?"

"Sure I do. What do you say?"

I paused, unsure of what to say. Was this really happening in such a short time? I barely had to do a thing. But I was happy though, because this meant that my dream was still alive. And it's not like Sai is weird or anything; in fact, he's rather attractive in his own way. This…could really work.

The warning bell sounded, but none of us moved. The hallways were slowly beginning to clear, and from the corner of my eye I spotted a…cardigan.

And it was watching me.

"Y-yes. I'd like that," I said calmly, smiling and blushing just to exaggerate. I stole a quick glance at Sasuke, standing still with his hand on the knob of his locker, being so obvious. For what purposes is he wasting his time, really?

Sai smiled, giving me a tight hug. He smelled like crayons; it was cute. "Great! Meet me in the art studio during seventh okay? You have seventh off, right?"

I nodded numbly, furrowing my brow. "Uh, yeah…?" Sai nodded and then said goodbye to Kiba and I, walking off as if we had just been talking about homework. I was confused. What about the art room? I don't get it. It didn't matter though. I grabbed Kiba by the shoulders and began shaking him in joy.

I have a new boyfriend!

* * *

When seventh period ended, I bid Kiba goodbye saying sorry I was missing our lunch together, and headed for the art studio that was adjoined to the gym. To be honest, I might have been in there once or twice. Art really isn't my thing. The best I can do is inappropriate stick figure drawings, although they were at least funny.

I'm not gonna let Sai know that though. I have to be a good boyfriend, and good boyfriends are interested in the same things as their partners. I could sit around and draw with him for a while if he wanted, that in itself didn't seem like a big deal.

I hesitantly grabbed the knob, and then took a deep breath and opened it. The entire room smelled like crayons and chalk, and the walls were painted an awful dull green. There were students moving all around the room, each with large drawing pads in hand. I stood there awkwardly, scanning for Sai, but he came up behind me.

"Boo," he whispered in my ear, making me jump. He laughed and gave me a peck on the cheek, taking a few necessary steps back.

I placed a hand over my heart. "You trying to kill me?"

He shook his head like, no of course not. Why would I ask something so ridiculous? I guess my sarcasm goes right over his head. That's alright though. Not even Kiba gets me sometimes. He showed me around the room, and I met a few other seniors that took this class. Then while we were talking, all of a sudden Kakashi-sensei walks up to us like, well?

"I found a new one." Sai beamed, touching my arm. I shivered. Found a new what? Is that code for some weird fetish sex party?

Kakashi looked me over and nodded. "Naruto, do you model often?"

Now it was my turn to beam. "Well, no, but you really think I could? People have always said that I have really great cheekbones and—"

He held a hand up, silencing me. The other people around me laughed, especially this one red haired girl, who must've thought it was the funniest thing she ever heard. Her laugh was obnoxious. I ignored her and looked back at Kakashi. He pointed to a pedestal, maybe big enough for two people, in the front of the room.

"I mean modeling, for the drawing class. You know about that, right?" he questioned, but since I can't see his face I'm not sure if he really cares about my answer at this point.

I shook my head negatively, and then the laughing girl decided to speak up. "We're basically doing five minute body structures. You and I are going to stand up there in poses, and every five minutes when Kakashi rings his bell, we're going to change poses. The object is to try not to do the same pose twice, so that they can practice drawing bodies. Understand?"

I nodded, sounded simple enough. I just wondered why Sai couldn't have just told me that from the beginning, but whatever. So the crowd around me dispersed and went to find their seats. Sai mouthed the words 'thank you' as he went to find his seat.

The girl and I went to stand on the pedestal. It was weird, having everyone stare at me so intensely, but I kind of liked it. The only thing I wasn't so fond of was that there were two pairs of dark eyes staring at me. I spluttered and tried to look away, but it wasn't like I could hide myself, right? In my quest to be a good boyfriend I had accidentally agreed to model my body for Sasuke's drawing class too.

We locked eyes for a moment. His face didn't even change. He was just…staring at me with a hard look on his face, and it was beginning to make me nervous, like I was naked or something. There were small shivers surging throughout my body.

Kakashi coughed to get everyone's attention. I sighed openly when I saw that porno book in his right hand, and the bell in the other. How shameless. "Ready?"

We both nodded. He rang the bell.

The girl draped her arm on my right shoulder, and her other up in the air, like a show girl. I stood still. That was the first pose. Then Kakashi looked up from his book and rang the bell. The next pose she pointed out into the mass of students like a superhero. I went for my 'thinking man' pose. We giggled together softly, trying not to move so much. The third pose she moved back to me and put both hands on my shoulders, but turning to face the students. I put one hand in my pants pocket. We must've looked like a couple, and that made me blush a little.

She smiled when she noticed my face, and when the next bell rung, she moved my arm and put it over her shoulders, slouched down so we looked like we were in the middle of something. I gazed at Sasuke for a moment, who looked up at us every second, and then went back down to the paper. His hand was moving as fast as lightning. And come to think of it, I never knew Sasuke was interested in art.

I've never really asked him much about himself, and I mean, it's not like I care, but now I'm started to feel a bit insensitive, you know? The bell chimed.

She bent over, with one hand on her hip, and a grin. I placed my hand in my hair, and even absently scratched it a bit. She giggled.

I got carried away a little, because I became totally unaware of the time and was so focused to thinking up the next great pose just so I could watch Sasuke scribble me down on his paper like a mad man. I liked his eyes on me, the way his facial expressions would tighten and relax while he drew. No really, and I know I'm starting to get sappy but honestly, it was one of the most intense feelings I might have ever had…ever. I didn't want to admit it, but it felt good.

The next bell that rung was the class bell, signaling the end. The girl dropped her stepping pose and turned to me, enveloping me with a hug that was filled with smelly flowers. I coughed.

"You were great! I hope you think about doing this again sometime." I nodded, and then she walked off, joining her other friends. I stepped off the podium slowly, almost upset that it had ended so soon. Sai approached me with a smile, pecking me on the mouth this time.

I frowned. It felt sour.

He showed me his drawings, which were really, really good. I was surprised and kinda happy. He made me look so cool. While he talked about form and art itself, I looked over at Sasuke, and watched as he put down his pad, grabbed his backpack and walked off without another word.

I raised an eyebrow. "Uchiha! You left your..." I hurriedly went over to his seat and picked it up, but when I spun around to give it to him, he had already left the room. Sai mirrored my confused face.

"Are you okay?"

I looked down Sasuke's art pad in my hand and thought, boy, that's a good question. _Was _I okay?

* * *

I must've been going insane, because I couldn't stop looking at his drawings. As I started from the beginning, I flipped through images that I recognized all over the school, the empty lunch room, the steps were Kiba and I eat lunch, the drawing room without anyone. He drew a profile image of Sakura and Gaara laughing together at lunch, and even got both their green eyes to sparkle with a charcoal pen, making them almost look like siblings. Then I turned the page, and saw a picture of Kiba and I on the steps, with Kiba mouth in mid-sentence and UNO cards in hand, and me just sitting there with a soft smile. And while that it kinda creepy, it was drawn so well I couldn't help but get giddy like a girl anyway.

I'm not sure if I should be flattered or creeped out, but I definitely wasn't comfortable about something settling in my stomach. Maybe I had to puke again. I have been having a rough day.

Anyway, I spend more time trying to find the bastard than I did getting to know my new boyfriend, which I think bothered him a little bit, but getting it back to Sasuke was the only thing on my mind. I guess you could say I was curious about his reaction. I tried all the places I think he'd be, pad in hand until I caught him arm-in-arm with Sakura walking out of class.

God, seeing them made me flinch. I really am having a bad day; thank god it's almost over.

When he saw me from a distance, he leaned over and whispered something in Sakura's ear, which made her giggle, nod, and release him from her grip. She hurried off, so I took the opportunity to approach him, hand outstretched.

"You left this," I said, eyeing him carefully for any signs of emotion in his eyes. He nodded a bit, and then took it from my hand slowly, opening it and flipping through his own pages.

He glanced up at me. "Have you gone through it?"

I snorted. "You make it sound like you wanted me to."

He shrugged, and flipped over the bag on his shoulder, tucking it away safely. The question was on the tip of my tongue, but unfortunately I'm a bit too prideful for that. So I stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

For once he looked about as lost as I was; it's hard to talk to someone normally when all you know how to do is fight and argue. This was beyond awkward.

We locked eyes with each other. "Have you…seen Sai's book?"

I nodded, then after hesitating I faltered. "Well…I saw some, you know, the ones he drew today, and although I do have to say they aren't quite as detailed as yours—" I paused to give Sasuke a pointed look to not take advantage of that partial compliment. "They are pretty good."

He chuckled, and looked around us, noticing the hallways draining again. He turned mid-step and then motioned for me to follow him. I looked behind me; just to be sure he was actually talking to me. He gave me this irritated look like I should be following, so I shrugged and fell into step beside him.

"This is weird…I feel like I should be like Sakura and cling to your arm or something." I laughed nervously, but I guess Sasuke didn't find it so funny since his eyes widened a bit.

I held a hand up. "No, Sasuke, I'm not actually going to do it. Relax." And then his shoulders slacked. I laughed again; it really was kind of funny.

He rolled his eyes. "So, what did you think of Sai's skills?"

"Huh? Oh, pretty good. Better than anything I could ever do even in my lifespan."

He paused. I could see our classroom coming up ahead as he walked, and how he purposefully slowed down his steps. "Better than me?"

My feet stopped suddenly, making him stop to. I looked at him, confused, "Well—"

"Naruto?"

Oh, oops. Oh yes, I did realize that my day was going far too normally. What would a day in the life of Uzumaki be like if there wasn't drama between a boyfriend and a...Sasuke?

My life is so complicated. And a week ago I thought this would be cool. In reality, it sucks.

I looked at Sasuke, whose normally calm face just a while twisted into something dark looking, and I looked at Sai, whose eyebrows were so furrowed together it looked like a unibrow.

"Sai, we were just—"

"Walking. We were walking. Together." Sasuke cut in, wrapping a possessive arm around my waist. As soon as I felt it snake I smacked it away, taking precautionary steps back. I'll be honest then, my mind had quickly played with the thought of actually standing beside Sasuke on this one. I mean, I'm not sure if he had something against Sai like it seemed, or if this was his way of saying he liked me, but I'm not appreciate of becoming an object here! I have my choices too.

If YOU were stuck between two jealous pale brunettes, which one would you stand by?

No, never mind. Don't answer that. That sounds so shallow and your answer will probably disgust me.

But it was too late to play with it any further, because Sai was already stomping off in that frustrated angry boyfriend way, and there was no way I was going to let another one slip through my fingers. I looked back at Sasuke who gave this look that was almost _threatening _me not to go after him but hey, he's not the one dating him now was he?

I shrugged and mouthed something like 'sorry' and scurried after my boyfriend. So much for even trying to be civil with the bastard.

But you can't have it all, right?

* * *

Don't worry, we're not finished yet. Just the beginning, actually. Get ready for the next chapter because it'll get more and more complicated! And before I end this, I'd like to thank everyone's who reviewed the last chapters or the ones before them. I really enjoy reading them and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! (Even a little bit?) Please review with any comments, concerns, or tips. They are greatly appreciated!


	6. Something More than Strangers

Crushing on You

Chapter Six: Something More than Strangers

Beta: strawberries and napkins

…

So, as if you didn't already know, Sai dumped me anyway. Said I was just stringing him along. Stringing him along for _who_, he wouldn't admit to, but I guess he just felt inferior around me. I guess I can't really blame him. I am ridiculously attractive. No amount of convincing did him any good, and it's okay, because why would I want a boyfriend who whines all the time about my enemy?

The only thing that is so totally notokay however is that the sun is shining brightly in the sky and yet I still _don't _have a boyfriend.

Oh, and did I mention that today is the day of the festival?

Today is the day of the festival.

"Shoot meeee," I whined into the phone, sprawled out on my living room couch, ignoring the admonishing looks I was getting from Iruka.

Kiba, on the other line, starting giggling hysterically. He's been doing that for the past two hours. You see, my original success with Gaara had apparently rubbed on the poor idiot, and so he preformed the trick just like yours truly, and successfully snagged Hinata as a date to the festival.

Yeah, and _she's _not getting sent to Paris. Although I have no doubt in my mind that Neji might end up sending Kiba somewhere far away from here if he ever got a peek into my friend's brain.

I groaned. "Kiba, help me, please. I need a date. I _need _a boyfriend, NOW." I snuck a peek at Iruka who bit his lip to stifle a chuckle. Everyone I know is a traitor.

"_Is all you do whine?" _Kiba said impatiently, but still managed to start giggling again after speaking.

"That's like me asking you if all you do is jack off while thinking of that pale-eyed girl, it's naturally occurring, isn't it?" I looked at Iruka again who stiffened and then tucked the newspaper underneath his arm, got up, and left the room muttering things about me. I rolled my eyes.

But anyway, the joke must've hit a nerve because the other line went considerably silent. Poor guy; he should have come to realize that there was no way Hinata was going to do anything with him…ever, probably.

Finally, he spoke again. _"Dude, I have your list here."_

"You—what?" I've been looking for that list for an entire day now. "Are you stalking my love life?" I asked slowly.

I could feel the sarcasm dripping in his voice. _"Of course I am, Naruto. By the way, I crossed out Sai's name for you. Good riddance, if you ask me, next on the list is—"_

"Shikamaru." I cut in quickly, urgently. "Tell me how to snag Shikamaru."

He laughed loudly. _"I dunno man, that's like asking me for advice for Sasuke. They're both asexual androids. Well, except Sasuke has Sakura and Shikamaru has Ino, but I'm sure they're just cover-ups."_

Funny, because I once came to the same conclusion about why Sasuke hung out with Sakura so much. Now I'm convinced that Sasuke is actually an eunuch, but that's beside the point.

"Something though, there's gotta be something. There's no way Shikamaru is going to want to be dragged down to the Festival with Ino. She's a crazier blonde than I am."

From the background I could hear Iruka shout, 'Ain't that the truth!' Sometimes, I forget he's an adult.

"Yeah? Then convince him yourself, he's probably still out down the park until the sunsets—" I slammed the phone back on the receiver, ignoring Iruka immediate chastising. Damn Kiba, why didn't he just say that at the beginning instead of wasting two hours of my time reciting his plan to get Hinata in bed?

I checked the clock, it was 5:20, and the sun sets at six. I had forty minutes to snag my next potential partner or…

My body violently shivered as I hurriedly put on my jacket and sprayed some cologne on my collarbone. I didn't even want to think about what would be coming my way next.

* * *

True to Kiba's word, I did find Shikamaru stretched out across an expanse of grass, lightly snoring away the last bit of daylight. And true to my word, I was still desperate, so I knelt down beside him and shook him awake.

"Gah – wha? The hell? Naruto?" Shikamaru peeked open one sleepy eye and furrowed his brow. I tried my best silly smile.

"I thought I'd find you out here." I released him and leaned back on the grass that was itching my butt and probably staining my jeans. He glared at me, shut his eyes for a brief moment, and then reopened them toward the sky.

"Yeah, I come here when I try to get away from crazy blondes." He muttered loud enough for me to hear. I did actually chuckle at that. If Shikamaru's torture was anywhere near as bad as Sasuke's, then I could technically be seen as doing him a favor, you know?

I absently picked at the pieces of grass between my fingers. "I bet. Although, I barely know anything about Ino."

"Then consider yourself lucky." He said, and then flinched softly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. It was a nice phone. Hey, how come I don't have a nice phone like that? Iruka is so damn cheap. I'm so going to complain about that when I get home.

I waited for Shikamaru to finish typing out his text message before I spoke again. "Who was that?"

He glanced at my sideways, as if he had just rediscovered my existence. "Sasuke, for our chemistry thing."

I scowled. "Ugh, how can you be friends with that guy?" He shrugged, snuggling back into the ground, trying to push me out of his peripheral vision. Too bad for him.

"So! The dance is only starting in a couple of hours. Got a date?" I asked optimistically, praying to all the Gods I knew that he wouldn't say, 'yeah, Ino.'

He cracked one eye open. "Naruto, enough with the games. You're troubling my sleep. What do you want?" His voice already sounded tired.

Jeez, that wasn't very friendly. And I did open my mouth to speak, but before I could get my first words out, Shikamaru pulled out his phone again and started texting away. I sighed. Even when Sasuke _isn't _around he's still pissing me off. Bastard.

When I heard his phone click, I took my opportunity. "I want you to go to the Festival with me. As in a date. As in, you and I, going out together. Meaning—"

"Naruto." He said impatiently, interrupting me. "I get what you mean."

I blushed softly, kicking myself in the head for ranting on and on when I could've stopped. You _would _think that after doing this four times already I would've gotten the hang of it, but no, this is still me we're talking about.

His gaze traveled upwards, watching the orange-purplish clouds drifting slowly in the clouds. I tried to get into it too, but I started getting sleepy, so I looked somewhere else. I don't get how he does that; it's incredibly boring. But I did discover a good way to put myself to bed faster, I guess.

When Shikamaru finally looked back at me in the eye, I could tell by the twinkling in his eye and the smirking playing on his lips that it wasn't going to be as easy as I was trying to make it. He shrugged again, for the umpteenth time. "I don't think I want to go the dance with another guy, Naruto."

My face fell. In the back of my mind I saw flashes of green leotards and reminded myself I could _not _afford to lose. "But, but why? I'd make a great date."

He chuckled in a deep voice that made me squirm. "I never said I was gay."

'_Yeah, and you've probably never told Ino to her face that you were completely straight either, have you?'_ I thought to myself. I'm probably right too, but it's not worth arguing with him. So instead, I inched closer to him, until I could feel the body heat radiate off of his arms. His facial expression didn't change, in fact, he might have gotten a bit more interested, but you know how Shikamaru's eyes stay dull-looking. Reminds me of a dog a little bit.

"You wouldn't know. Have you tried it?" I murmured, my eyes scanning his face. He really was handsome in his own way, in the way that only those eyes with those slim lips and that kind of hair against his face seemed to work so well. Or maybe I was over-exaggerating it, but hey, I haven't kissed anyone in days, you know.

His body went slack, so I took total advantage of that, leaning overtop of him, pining him underneath both my arms. It was kind of weird for me, because all things considering Shikamaru is bigger than me physically, but me dominating is really pumping my ego quite well. I could get used to this 'seme' thing.

"Have you?" I repeated, making sure I he was holding my gaze. His slow smile began to spread.

"I'm guessing you're going to be the one to convince me to go on a date with you instead?" He chuckled. I mirrored him this time, shrugging. And went I could feel his phone vibrate against his thigh; I placed my hand over his to stop him from answering that text message. Sasuke could wait, and I was done talking. We started kissing. A lot. And, it's safe to say, Shikamaru was in no ways questioning his sexuality. There was no way that he was going to deny me when I asked him out this time.

But, unfortunately, due to the pact the Masters of the Universe made in order to prevent me from getting a date, my tongue was violently wrenched out of his mouth and I was thrown onto my back like a dog, staring into the face of the one and only, Yamanaka Ino.

It was also the first time that I noticed it was dark outside and that Shikamaru does a weird purring thing when he's happy…or horny.

"Hey! Are you trying to convert my date!" She screeched, kicking me in the stomach while she hauled a dizzy Shikamaru to his feet, shaking him until he could stand on both feet.

"What?" I chocked out, surprised. "How did you know I was here? Who sent you?" I hald-shouted this, and she just rolled her eyes at me like, duh, of course I knew who told her. But I'm being incredibly honest here when I say that I _do not _know why I keep getting caught. This is ridiculous!

She threw me a look of pity and then kicked me in the stomach again. I started choking on something I hope wasn't blood. She pointed an angry finger in my face. "Listen. Shikamaru is _my _date. You have yours, so go call him and stick your tongue down _his _throat!" She huffed, dragging Shikamaru by the collar far, far away from me, and any chances of me having a normal date to the Festival. He looks so bored right now.

Call? _Call who?_ Is she trying to be funny right now?

Along with green spandex I could also now hear the sounds of toilets flushing. Strange the kind of imagination I have, isn't it?

* * *

Oh god, help me.

I went home and hung up my jacket somberly, taking my seat beside the phone. I thought about calling Kiba first, but it wouldn't have made a difference and I figured he would've probably been in the bathroom shaving his legs or something else extremely gay and was too busy to listen to me cry.

I sighed. It had to be done. I could go throw up about it later. I dialed in the seven digits I never thought I would've had to dial of my own free will, _ever. _And yet, here I am. Life is so unfunny sometimes.

It rings twice, and then he picks up. _"Hello?"_

I gulp loudly. "Hey…Lee."

"_Naruto? Hi! I haven't spoken to you in awhile!"_

I winced. Someone kill me. "Yeah, Lee, I know. So, listen…"

"_Yeah?"_

I glanced around the room, glaring at the little piece of brown hair that seems to be sticking out of the dining room chairs until it sank from view slowly. Stupid Iruka. I think he's laughing at me.

"I need…I need you to get dressed for the Festival and meet me at Ichiraku's in two hours."

"_Sure no problem Naru—wait, what? Why?"_

"Because…because you're going to be my date for tonight so just do it! Bye!" I snapped quickly and hung up the call, heaving as if I had just did a 5k run. My face was on fire, and listen to Iruka giggle slyly wasn't helping either. I guess Kiba could cross off one more then. And although in reality I should be releaved that I hadn't reached the _bottom _bottom of the list, I couldn't help but think to myself,

Why…why me?

* * *

Hah. Don't be mad that this update took longer. I've actually never written anything involving Shikamaru directly before, so this was a challenege. Plus, I wasn't as witty this week as I would've liked to be, although I hoped I made you laugh…somewhere. AND, I was actually done with this chapter awhile ago, but after reviewing the, well.._reviews, _I decided to radically change everything I had already set in stone. And for that, I thank those that review.

We're nearing the last chapter, although I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to drag this out. I really really really want you all to enjoy it, I thank you all the people who have story-alerted this fiction and are reading it, and I _really _thank all of you who read and then review. You guys are the reason I can update so quickly, and the reason you might get an epilogue. (winkwink) So! If you liked it, please review. If you caught one of my dumb mistakes, review and let me know so I can fix it. If you didn't like this chapter at all because it had no Sasuke, then let me know what you wanna see instead, okay? Because apparently I care…a lot.

Thanks again!


	7. Something More than Enemies

Crushing on You

Chapter Seven: Something More than Enemies

Beta: strawberries and napkins

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this chapter, and by that, I mean everything. The plot is probably borrowed now too; I'm so low on creative energy.

…

Now, despite the fact that my love life was hanging by a thread and my date thought that green spandex was the coolest thing since sliced bread; I was beginning to feel rather sexy. And not in that way that girls feel sexy and they suddenly become aware they have breasts and want to touch them, I felt extra cool, but honestly, only because of my threads. I bought the yukata months ago really, when it was super tight across the chest so I had something to work for.

I did a quick once-over in the mirror, admiring my clean look and fresh shampoo'd hair. A neat-looking dark blue yukata, with orange stitching I did myself. So don't laugh, because it's probably the most expensive I own in my closet right now.

After I finished my rather long pep-talk in the mirror, Iruka knocked and came in quietly holding one hand behind his back.

"What's that?" I asked curiously, and he pulled it out for me to see, surprising me. A rather pretty necklace, just a blue gem and two silver orbs to complete the look. I was in love at first sight.

He shrugged. "I figured you might need it—for good luck. It tidies up the outfit too." At that, I was sold.

When I could hear the faint click of the clasp, I knew I was ready. I turned and hugged Iruka unexpectedly, making him blush and stutter. What an uke.

I went to the door, and blew him a kiss. I'm _so_ going all out tonight.

"Wish me luck!"

* * *

As I half-expected of myself, I was twenty nine minutes late to meeting Lee, who apparently had been expecting me for a while by the way his huge eyes were just scanning the crowds. He did look nice though, dark green yukata. Again, as expected.

I ran up to him, out of breath. "Sorry…Lee. Hope I didn't make you wait too long." He smiled brightly and nearly suffocated me in his large dose of cologne from the crook of his neck when he hugs me.

"Not at all, Naruto! In fact, while you gone I was able to do some leg stretching that—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I cut in, not really into hearing all his exercise talk. "Let's just do this, okay?" I tucked my arm between his, and silently prayed that whoever knew us wouldn't make a huge deal about it. I winced, already foretelling something unfortunate in my favor. Because life works that way for Uzumaki Naruto.

He nodded, and off we went. Of course, he insisted we visit the temple first, which I didn't object to. I'm not much of a religious person myself, but at our festivals it's more about tradition than anything else, which was probably why the lines were so crowded. I also caught Kiba and Hinata walking away from the temple on the path…and then I saw Neji stalking them alone rather obviously a few feet away.

I shook my head, glad that we were too far for him to see us. When we got to the front of the line, I did spend more time studying Lee's face than I did actually praying. He looks calm when he's not talking or has that stupid grin on his face. Lee glanced my way and I smiled calmly, fully intent on making his date the most casual possible and still have a good time.

It wasn't too hard.

Lee, as it turns out, makes good conversation when he isn't talking about youth, flames, or his gay gym teacher.

And here's where it got especially hard to be annoyed with him. Seeing as though my date finds running through sandy beaches for two hours is especially fun, I brought him over to one of those strength-hammer game thingy to see how high he could hit the marker.

"This should be easy for you, huh?" I smiled, and paid the vendor when it was our turn finally. Lee, ever so cheerful just nods and waltzes right up, grabs the hammer and slams it down so hard the marker shoots right past the one-hundred mark and keeps on going into the sky.

Jaw-dropped, I, the vendor, and the line all watch dumbfounded as Lee strolls back to me with a giant stuffed frog-animal in hand.

"I got it for you," he said shyly, I find the words to close my mouth, and then gingerly take it from him.

It was kind of cute. "How'd you know I liked frogs so much?" I joked, as we took hands and strolled on down the path. Life was bearable, well, until Uchiha and his lovely girlfriend decided to ruin my night too by showing up.

I tried moving us along the opposite way quickly, but Lee saw Sakura, who I'm guessing, he may have a little crush on.

"Hey! Sakura-chan! Over here! Here, here!" He's waving them down and I'm just praying that they can't hear Lee's obnoxious loud voice and…damn.

Here they come.

As always, I greet Sakura only. When she and Lee lean in for a hug, I stick my tongue out at Sasuke to quietly show my distaste. He returns it with a dark glare of his own that sends chills up my spine. The strange part about that though, was that I don't think he was looking at me.

And if you were wondering by any chance, no, they were not wearing cardigans today. Sakura's kimino was, well, pink (duh.) with printed sakura blossoms. Her having her hair up for a change was pretty classy looking, I guess. And of course Mr. Antisocial wears a black yukata with simple white trimming, and the Uchiha Crest on the back. Figures.

But, together they do look like a cute couple and no…I'm not the least bit envious. I have Lee. _Hah._

Sakura glances around us awkwardly when she and Lee run out of polite things to say to one another. Under his breath I can hear Sasuke mumble, "….date, again?" And I'm about to question him about what he means when Sakura comes up with something to say.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun and I were just about to grab something to eat finally, would you guys like to join us?"

While I do open my mouth with full intent to reject her offer, Sasuke interrupts quickly saying, "Yes, you both should come with us."

My eye twitches erratically. Is he being serious right now? We're enemies! And it certainly doesn't help when Lee, who grabs Sakura's hands and starts shaking her like madman, crying about what a good idea it is to go eat dinner as a friendship group.

I sigh and squeeze the frog prize closer to me when I feel Sasuke's eyes linger on it for too long. Just whose date is Lee trying to _be_ right now?

* * *

It's awkward. Incredibly, extremely, awkward for all of us sitting at one round table waiting on someone to call a waiter but no one's voice has called out for one yet. Sasuke's glaring at Lee, Lee's staring at Sakura, Sakura's got one eyebrow raised at my toy in my lap, and I'm chewing on my finger nails.

I know, not the sexiest habit but hey. I'm nervous.

Finally, Sasuke mumbles out loud first. "Looks like the date's been fun..." He's eyeing my toy too.

Somehow, I flinch at the word 'date' and pull my toy closer to me. It sounds wrong. But, I'm not going to let this asshole know that. So I smile coyly and say, "Yeah, I just realized tonight how _strong_ Lee really is."

This makes Lee blush lightly and Sasuke avert his gaze from me, so I'm calling it a win on my part. Sakura glanced between us and laughs nervously. "Maybe I should call just the—"

Sasuke stands up quickly, hiding his eyes under his longer bangs. "Don't. I'll go get drinks." He stalks off angrily.

I pull back, confused. I was just teasing. Why is he getting his tight panties in a bunch now all of a sudden? My eyes widen for a second. Maybe—

"Goodness that was fast, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaims. My eyes snap towards the towering brunette, holding a try of four drinks that I'm assuming is water by the clear color. Lee starts his spiel about how drinking water is beneficial to the human body while Sasuke passes out drinks, saving his and Lee's for last.

Slowly, he stares at the tray in his hands for a second, and then reaches for a glass. "Here, Lee. Your drink." The way he's staring at Lee so intently, puts me on edge. I guess it does for Sakura too, because when Sasuke takes his seat and raises his glass to his lips, she says something stupid again.

"Wait!" She cries out, halting both boys mid-task. Her eyes have a frightening, wild look to them. "Switch drinks."

Just what the hell is going on with these two weirdos? I'm _so _ready to ditch them.

Lee furrows his brows together, creating a single confused unibrow that I chuckle at under my breath. Sakura's deadly serious though, I can tell by her eyes. And the only thing my brain will allow me to do is watch, dumfounded, with a stupid-looking frog in my lap.

"Switch drinks." She says slowly, and carefully. "You know, the old Greek custom between new friends, showing a…bond for one another. So, let's try it, hmm?" She doesn't look at Sasuke at all when she says this. It's a good thing too, because his eyes suddenly grew steely.

I gulped, waiting on Lee's reaction. He blinks slowly, and then smiles. "Well, alright! You always were the genius, Sakura-chan. Let us trade beverages huh, Uchiha-san?" His enthusiasm makes me laugh, despite the now tense situation. Sakura spares me a fleeting look and her expression softens.

Sasuke nods with a soft smirk, they trade drinks, and then simultaneously we all drink our glasses. Well, Sakura and I drink from our glasses. Sasuke and Rock Lee down it all in a few gulps.

I stare at Lee, incredulously as he makes a show of smacking his wet lips together. "Thirsty much?"

He turns to me, and the first warning sign I should have gathered was the glossy look in eyes. Then he opens his mouth to talk, but instead a hiccup comes out. Then another one. And another.

Then all hell breaks loose.

Lee gets this stupid grin on his face and his cheeks and neck turn a broiling red and he starts flailing around, hitting everything. And I mean _everything_. He flips the table over, he smacks the frog out of my hands and send it right into some poor girl's face while she was eating, and even swipes at Sakura on accident, but Sasuke moved her away in time.

I was shouting for help, and all of a sudden we were the center of attention in the restaurant. Somewhere in the mix Kiba and Hinata shows up and Kiba tries to restrain Lee to no avail, Sasuke at first starts to help but gets elbowed in the stomach by Lee harshly so he relents for a minute. Then Neji shows up and really starts putting things under control.

I must have looked like a chick just standing next to Sakura with a dumb look on my face as I watch my drunk date terrorize the festival goers, but I'm too shocked to turn into superhero mode. It just happened so quickly and suddenly and…

I feel a warm hand wrap around my wrist and suddenly I'm being pulled away from the scene. My feet don't even fight it, not even when I look up and see its Sasuke making our escape through the large gathering crowd, leaving behind our dates, Kiba, and Neji, to handle it themselves.

Like seeing things for the first time, I realize that it was Sasuke who spiked Lee's drink.

* * *

Uhm, yes. Here it is. Did I keep you waiting long? I hope not. I don't think this one is as funny as it is more serious since we're reaching the climax, and it's hard for me to keep making jokes when it's already one AM, and I can hardly read what I'm writing, ahaha. The moment of truth is upon us all, readers. Please review, and remind me to finish this they way you want it to!


	8. Something More than Lovers

Crushing on You

Chapter Eight: Something More than Lovers

Beta: strawberries and napkins

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

….

For some reason, my brain had grinded to a dead halt and only my body seemed to be functioning, which was currently being dragged away by a crazy Uchiha. I saw glimpses of people as we wound through crowds of excited festival-goers. I heard the cries of Sakura, the grunts of Neji, the shouts of Kiba calling us back. But Sasuke moved onwards, and my wrist was in his vice-grip, so I moved too.

I just couldn't put the pieces together. Sasuke was the one who invited us to dinner. Sasuke was the one who brought the drinks. Sasuke was the one who switched cups. Sasuke...got Lee drunk. Purposefully.

Sasuke _meant _to get Lee drunk. He knew Lee would flip out, and he did it anyway.

Finally, I was able to wrap those pieces of information around my brain, but I was missing something, something important, I think. Sasuke had dragged me out of the streets, out of the festival, into the Konoha forests. My wrist was starting to pulsate with pain, and then I came back.

"What...you...Uchiha?" I mumbled, tugging back my arm for the first time in minutes. He shot a look back at me, and slowed down. We were in the middle of nowhere, atop the festival, high on a hill. I looked up. Nothing but stars.

For the first time since I've known him, he looked guilty. Honestly guilty. Could dark eyes get even cloudier? I wondered.

I inhaled slowly, cautiously, more than aware of the soft whirring noises of cicada and crickets around us. That the bottom of my yukata was freckled with dirt, that my wrist felt tugged raw. I still had my dignity, damnit.

"Sasuke..." I started, but felt my mouth dry up when he shook his head gently and shocks of black hair felt around his eyes. He met my gaze slowly. I don't know if he was trying to disarm me, or challenge me, but I refuse to ignore the obvious now...well, now that I know it was the obvious, of course.

"Did you, intentionally, spike Lee's drink with alcohol?"

He nodded. Slowly, solemnly, but he definitely nodded. It was all I needed. I took a few quick strides forward and smashed my knuckles into his face. It was satisfying, intensely so, to hear the bastard groan loudly and hunch over, splurting.

Unfortunately, I didn't hit him as hard as I would've liked to, because only a trickle of something pink

came flowing out. But his nose was impossibly red compared to the rest of his pale face.

"Asshole," I hissed loudly. "How could you do that to Lee? How could you do that to _my _date! I don't care what drama you two have going on, but-"

Sasuke stayed in his hunched over position, and if I hadn't been as close as I was, I wouldn't have heard him. But I did. I heard him whisper, "You...weren't supposed to have a date."

I raised the backside of my hand, ready to serve him another one. "What the hell are you talking about, Sasuke?"

He coughed a few more times, and glared at me as he uprighted his own back. "Lee was never supposed to be your date. You were supposed to come here alone. You were supposed to be..." He trailed off, his eyes following, hitting the floor as if he were afraid to say what came next.

The word hit me suddenly. "Single?"

The sound of crickets filled the silence. The deep, dead, silence. My hand fell limply to my side while things began to click into place.

It was one of those times I wish I had a stronger voice that didn't break when I was nervous, but I ended up sounding like a girl anyway. "So...you were the one...who did all those things?"

He nodded again. Confidently, even with the burning red nose.

I started talking fast, foaming at the mouth even. I was livid. "You were the one who interrupted me and Kiba? The one who told Neji I was in a relationship? The one who got Sai to dump me? The one who found Ino?"

"Don't forget," he added helpfully. "I also sent Gaara to Paris." He was making that face that he does usually only in class when he answers a particularly difficult question that not even the teacher had the right answer to. The kind of face I use when I know I said something funny but I totally meant it. He means this, he's not afraid of admitting any of this. And knowing that bastard was still being so cocky, was making me mad.

My eye twitched. I lifted my palm, and sent it flying across his face, this time knocking him on his back. That one was a good hit, I think. My hand stung from it anyway. "You sent my boyfriend to _Paris?_"

"Ow, fuck!" He was holding the side of his face, anger boiling in his eyes, but he didn't make a move forward or backward. What, was he ready to just sit there and let me beat him to a pulp? For some reason, the thought made me angrier. Made me want to hit him some more, actually, which I didn't think was a good thing.

I kicked a rock in his direction, inhaling deeply to calm myself. "Stop letting me hit you just because you know you're wrong. The asshole I know always wants to fight me." I glowered, squeezing my palms shut as I thought over and over

"I don't want to fight you." He grunted softly, still holding his cheek tenderly as he took a bold step my way. That's more like it, I thought. "I had a reason!" He said, but obviously, I didn't buy it. His face did look pretty sore though, so I closed the space between us and swatted his hand away so I could inspect the damage around his cheek. Then I noticed we were close...very close.

And Sasuke threw yet another curve-ball when my way when I saw that his face was red, yes, but not because I hit him.

But definitely because of me.

"Sasuke..." I forced him to look me in the eye. He swallowed thickly, a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his forehead and he was biting his lip anxiously.

I started to chuckle. "Bastard, are you blushing?"

Sasuke pushed me away gently. "No, I'm not. Stop being stupid, idiot. I-I'm trying to tell you..." I started laughing harder, a real laugh. Was the world laughing at me now, I wondered? Did it really take the destruction of six potentially good relationships, a dtunk outburst in the middle of the festival, and ending up in the middle of friggin' nowhere for me to finally see-

"I have...a crush on you, Naruto."

I blinked a few times. All evidence does point to the fact that I should've known he liked me, and was willing to do unspeakable things to countless boys to make sure I didn't fall for anyone but him. But hearing that kind of talk from my number one enemy...well, hearing that talk at all made me shiver. The honesty of his eyes and the way he keeps inching closer to me and towering over me with that stupid Uchiha height is just...

Well, honestly, it's kind of likeable.

I poked him in the exposed chest, trying not to let my quivering legs fail me under the scent of his heavy cologne this close. "Even...even an idiot like me could've figured that one out..."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow. "I had to do a lot just to keep you single, Naruto. Making Sakura pull those strings weren't easy you know-"

"You mean Sakura-chan was in on this!"

He shrugged nonchalantly, much more into playing with the hem of my yukata sleeve than what he was saying. "She knows a few diplomats. Ino too, after I had to explain to her that you were after her date, so was more than willing."

I opened my mouth, then closed it. Maybe I should've seen that coming. "Anything else I need to know?" Always safe with sarcasm, I think.

"Kiba too. Got him to bribe Sai into breaking up with you."

I paused, mouth agape. That Judas! But still... "How?"

He cringed, the way people do when they remember something they don't want to, and I laughed although the situation didn't exactly call for it. "You don't wanna know with what. Ask your friend."

...With what? I wondered. In my heart, I hoped it was nothing perverted or scheming...but I do have to remember this is Kiba we were talking about. I shivered. Poor Hinata, she was probably just compensation.

"He also gave me the list. You put me on it?"

This time it was my cheeks to heat up, embarrassingly. I didn't even have the heart to tell him that originally it was a joke, because in actuality if Rock Lee didn't exactly work out either I might've tried Sasuke. But...not because I would've been desperate. No, I'm not gonna say that. So I did the modest thing and averted my gaze.

The deep chuckle I heard follow the silence sort tells me he knew anyway. Slowly, his grip shifted until it was tugging on my sleeve. I looked up, and held his gaze.

"What? What now, Sasuke? Stop staring..." I murmured, defeated. This has to be the most awkward thing that's ever happened to me, to anyone. Being confessed to by your...enemy? Unreal.

"No."

He narrowed his eyes and pushed as closer together if possible, so I could feel his heart beat slowly in rhythmic beating. I bit my lip, anxiously. It was surreal.

And then the fireworks went off.

And since I am still Uzumaki Naruto, the incredibly romantic and hard-on killing, idiotic blond that I am, got extremely frightened and punched Sasuke in the face yet again, who I'm guessing was still in the romantic mood. I was sorry this time though...sorta. I started laughing. I couldn't help it, only he could make this situation funny with that angry yet confused look on his completely swollen and battered face.

He still won't retaliate though, and it helped me believe him. He was serious. Deadly serious, even as he and I knelt down in the grass and watched the fireworks overhead us in the thicket of the forest. Me covered in dirt, and him covered in bruises.

Sasuke Uchiha had a crush on Naruto Uzumaki.

And I...well, maybe I could learn to like the asshole back.

"Oh, what the hell," I smiled and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, and with the Konoha tradition to back me up, I was almost a hundred percent sure I was going to be stuck with this bastard forever, and well, I didn't mind it, really.

He winced. "Ouch...wrong cheek!"

"Sorry!"

* * *

I just had to get this done. The epilogue will be twice as long, so don't worry. Sorry it's been a while, I can really start to see how much harder it is to keep updating when school work starts to bury you under it all, ahaha. Anyway, thanks for reading (even though it kinda sucked, ahaha) and please review!~


	9. Something More than Forever

Crushing on You

Chapter Nine: Something More than Forever

A/N: I don't own.

..

So we all lived happily ever.

I bet that was something you expected to hear, wasn't it? Well, it actually didn't _exactly_ turn out that way. But don't get nervous yet, I'm not saying that things got all screwed up again. They didn't. Sasuke and I are like two happy clams...well, I'm a happy clam, I prefer to think that Sasuke is an uptight, sour clam. We are happy nonetheless.

That doesn't exactly mean that _things _went smoothly right after the festival though, though they did end up pretty well. ...As 'well' as getting with a guy you've hated since second grade could go, if there's a few of you out there who know what I'm talking about-

Oh, wait. Something just punched me in the ear.

My eyes glazed to the side and I see Kiba poised, ready to toss another dye at me. I pouted, stroking my sore ear gently. "Kiba, my dear friend, bullying so early in the day?"

He snorted as me, that defensive hand holding the dye lowers a little. "Shut your face Uzumaki and play! It's bad enough that emo-boy doesn't talk, but I'm not gonna sit here and play a card game with myself while you go off in your little retarded daydream too."

I laughed a little, and turn to the right, where the leg stretched lazily across my lap is in fact indeed attached to a body. He's not even paying attention to the conversation, his dark eyes are darting back and forth between us and the sketch pad in his hands, furiously scribbling away. I'm nearly surprised that the pencil hasn't broken under the weight yet. The last three pencils only lasted a few minutes at most.

"Sasuke."

"Sasukeee."

"..."

I glanced at Kiba, who shrugged, rolled his eyes, and laid out his cards on our pile with a devious smile. "Royal flush."

"As if! You cheated when I wasn't looking!" I said, throwing down the rest of my cards on the pile, signaling the end of the game.

He nodded in all seriousness. "I did. And so what? You can't kick my ass."

I blinked, weighing my options. He did have a point. But whatever. Watching my boyfriend is a lot more interesting than playing games with Kiba, anyway.

Hear that? I said my _boyfriend. _It's been months and we're still together. Kinda surprised the both of us, really, but now that we're cool with each other, there's nothing...left to argue about, really. There's more of those awkward pauses where insults would usually fly now. I've taken the liberty of replacing those times with hot make-out sessions...since no one's complained yet.

"Hey, cutie, are you getting my good side?" I murmured, completely mesmerized by the determined look in his eyes, and the way his tongue would dart out and lick his dry lips in concentration. In the back I could hear Kiba groan.

"This lovey-dovey stuff is making me wanna—"

"Done." Sasuke interjected, bringing both me and Kiba to look at him, paused. He held up the sketchpad, with the drawing of Kiba and I playing cards, detailed down to the very numbers on them. Me and my wide smile, and Kiba and his weird canines. Even Kiba's eyes held a certain sparkle to them.

"I love it!" I smiled widely and tackled him full force, knocking him on his back with all my frantic snuggling. I heard the sound of Kiba groaning and kicking the cards up in the air, but too bad. My boyfriend was being adorable.

"Awww, babyyyy..."

"D-Dobe..."

* * *

I invite Sasuke over my house every day. Iruka comes home late now since he's busy being courted by perverted porn-readers and I need something to distract myself from doing schoolwork. I like it when Sasuke comes over though, just so we can talk and kiss. What I'm _not _to fond of is when Sasuke shows up at my door, and there's that smelly pink-haired monster attached to his waist.

"Oh, Sasuke dear, it seems all those bad tomatoes you've eaten have caused you to sprout an ugly feminine growth!" I exclaimed, only cracking the door half-way to shield myself from it...uhh, her.

Sakura rolled her eyes at me, still refused to let my boyfriend's waist go. "Hah-hah, Naruto. So funny. Open the door, already."

I looked at Sasuke, and mouthed the words 'threesome?', his lip quirks upwards as he rolls his eyes, making my heart race. I let them in, being as least careful as I could to wrench her arms from around his waist.

"You better have a good reason for being here, Sakura-chan, or I'm gonna put something extremely toxic in your drink!" I chirped, closing the door behind me and giving Sasuke my customary peck on the cheek.

She glared at me. "Oh shut up! If you _must _know, Sasuke-kun invited me."

"Not exactly..." Sasuke murmured beside me and shot me a look, pulling myself and Sakura up the stairs and into my room as if it were his house. I smiled, relaxing as we all sat down on my floor, and reached for the UNO cards.

Sakura groaned. "Again? Why do we always play stupid UNO? We never do anything fun at your house, Naruto."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not really in the mood to play UNO either, Sakura, but since you're here, Sasuke can't have sex with me. Therefore the lameness of this situation is your fault. Accept it, shut up, and play."

She stuck her tongue at me and then began to giggle when Sasuke's eyes began to dart nervously between the two of us, licking his lips like he does when I make a sex joke. You'd be surprised, but I think Sasuke's gotten too attached to having a chastity belt to let me savagely tear it off him like a money-hungry hooker. A shame, really.

I put down a red four. Sakura places a red two. Sasuke serves a red reverse. Sakura places a wild card, changes the color to stupid green, which I don't have any cards left of. Stupid girl.

"I'm so over this," I groan, tossing my cards dramatically up in the air. Sakura shrugged, and made herself comfortable in my room by reaching forward and turning on my television. She had a bit of difficulty finding my remote since it was tangled up in my bedsheets, but you think that would stop her? I'm going to ignore her. Sasuke sighs audibly, and pulls me a bit closer so that I could lean on him. I would've taken that opportunity to complain about his lack of socialization again, but I started smelling that spicy cologne of his and I'm too cozy to care.

Sakura absently scratched at her head. "I'm bored."

"Same." I replied offhandedly. "Any good gossip swimming around in that voluminous hairstyle of yours, pinky?" I grinned toothily at her.

She gave me a bored look. "Har-Har. You sound gayer and gayer each day, Naruto. _But,_ I did hear something roaming around in the halls this afternoon. Remember Gaara, that strange redhead Sasuke and I sent to Paris for interfering?"

Sasuke snorted audibly, grabbing my hands in his and started absently massaging them. I think the topic was making him nervous. "_You_ sent him to Paris, Sakura."

"You signed his name on the ticket, Sasuke-kun."

"_You _paid his stay for an entire month in advance, Sakura."

"Yeah, but you—"

I cut in, eager to share my opinion. "You _both_ sent a poor boy under the spell of Uzumaki Naruto to the foreign country of France so that Sasuke could court me! Not that I particularly mind anymore. I thought we moved on from all this drama when he left." I stopped, giving Sasuke a teasing stare, squeezing Sasuke's hand back playfully. "But why is this such a big deal?"

Sakura paused to change the channel a few times, apparently more interested in watching the news than answering my question. "Haven't you heard of his reputation? His...anger problem? He could be mad at Sasuke."

"But he's probably mad at _you_." Sasuke shot back darkly. Sakura sucked in a sharp breath. I chuckled softly under my breath.

"What's the problem? How mad can he be? You guys were just playing around, and I'm sure...after a year...he probably knows that. No hard feelings, right?" I glanced between Sakura and Sasuke, my smile half-falling off my face. Why did their faces have the same expression on? No wonder they were odd friends.

I waved a hand dismissively in the air, snuggling in closer with Sasuke's stupid cardigan. If they wanted to play evil psychic twins and not answer me, I wasn't about to waste any cuddling time on it.

"Whatever. Turn the channel Sakura-chan, I wanna watch cartoons."

Sasuke squeezed my hand again, something like a faint smirk across his lips. "Idiot."

Sakura frowned, handing me the remote, nodding while rolling her eyes. "...Idiot."

* * *

As it turned out, he was mad. I mean, really mad. My locker was completely trashed. I didn't realize it at first that pretty much the entire school knew but me because they were all laughing as Sasuke, Sakura, and I came walking in with intertwined arms as always, but I figured they were always laughing at Sakura because she looked desperate hanging around two gay guys all the time.

But since we stopped at my locker first, we saw it. The entire front of the locker had glued pieces of trash to it, banana peels, crumpled paper, and...underwear.

"Someone glued...underwear, to your locker?" Sakura asked bemusedly, extending two fingers to stroke the silky fabric. I cringed.

"Lady's underwear at that! Ahh! My eyes burn." I groaned, rubbing my temples from the oncoming headache I was about to get. I could hear the snickers and gasps of students behind us, walking by. I looked at Sasuke, who had this...this...odd stare on his face like he wasn't sure whether he wanted to share his opinion about it at all. Jerk.

I wiped my hands on my shorts and sighed, ignoring Sakura's shouting and started turning the dial to open my locker. I half-expected more underwear or trash to come spilling out, but only a small piece of paper fell out immediately and drifted to the ground. Sasuke and I exchanged intrigued looks as Sakura bent down to pick it up and smooth it out enough to read.

"It says, 'Naruto. Meet me on the roof at lunch.'" Sakura flipped the piece of paper over to find more writing, but that was all. She turned to Sasuke and handed him the piece of paper, the two of them sharing coded looks.

"Jeez, and no signature? The most inconsiderate thing I've encountered all day." I mumbled under my breath, taking out my necessary books and stuffed them harshly into my backpack. Even if it was a lame joke that if played on someone else I would've found hilarious, I was suddenly in no mood for company or cleaning up my trash-infested locker. I slammed the door quickly, making Sakura squeak.

I was about to walk away and find a place to brood quietly, but Sasuke stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "I'll be there too." He said, but with an inward inflection, as if he were asking me. So I shook my head negatively at him, but the hand only gripped tighter.

"I'll be there too." He said firmly, grabbing me by the face for a rough kiss on the lips. His lips were pretty soft this morning.

I pulled away and grinned cheekily. "You're such a generous, sweet person, Sasuke. I have _no_ idea why the school is so afraid of you." He rolled his eyes, and we kissed again.

"Aww! So cute." Sakura squealed, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her begin to pull out her camera. I pulled away quickly, and Sasuke and I both glared her into submission.

"Keh! You selfish homosexuals!"

* * *

So it was on my mind all day. And it didn't help that whenever Sasuke and I are involved in something particularly difficult, he has a habit of doing this enigmatic thing where he gets to skip all his classes to go brood and no one questions it. I don't even stay awake in class and the entire school shuts down if I'm not asleep in my chair. Go figure.

But anyhow, I was feeling particularly bouncy, as my not-so-secret reunion with whoever is trying to bully me put me on edge. I began to notice the silliest of things. Like, how I never really noticed it, but, the lunchroom walls were beige. Like, not the nice kind of beige you might want to buy a pair of pants in, but the kind that they dressed World War two war prisoners in. And then they painted the whole room in this off-setting white, like, as if that would change anything. And because the white-_ish _paint is already starting to peel off, it's making the entire room look like a prison cell from 1941.

It was driving me mad.

I ended up sneaking around the school, so at the very least I couldn't be caught while in deep contemplation. I found myself scaling the steep steps up to the roof early, when there was still at least a class left before I should've been there. But the day was rather sunny, and the sky was unblemished, so I took to looking at it. I leaned over the edge of the railing, and actually kind of enjoyed the wind brushing against my uniform shirt. I'm not usually one for thinking, as Sasuke would say, but my thoughts couldn't even help but wander to the obnoxious dark-haired prick.

"Speaking of..." I murmured softly, when two arms slid their way around my waist, the foreign body absorbing my visible flinch. I could smell him, spices and soap, my Sasuke. He said nothing in return, just rested his head on my shoulder, lips silently pressed against my skin. I could feel my heart race. There was nothing more equally comforting and awkward than when Sasuke was attempting to be sweet. It made me whole body quiver with a certain happiness. The small gesture had already seemed to ignite some fire in me, so I skipped the pleasantries and turned my head to peck his lips, softly.

If he was surprised by my gesture, he sure didn't show it. I always lose the Tongue Wars game. Such a bittersweet defeat, I tell you. And don't throw up when I tell you this, but I was much too into the feeling of his saliva-slick lips on mine to notice anything else.

Someone else, like...the person I'm supposed to be meeting?

I only managed to notice the presence of a third person because while our bodies were pressing against each other in incredibly arousing ways, I heard the sound of soft footsteps that were _not _the sound of by quick-beating heart. So I broke us apart, panting. Kissing for a whole class period straight? I need an award.

"Uhh..." I trailed off, incredibly embarrassed because well, my hands weren't exactly where they should be. And as Sasuke and I put a more appropriate distance between us, I suddenly had a bunch of questions.

How did Sasuke know I was out here? Since when did I get butterflies in my stomach from a simple make-out session? I feel like a girl.

And why is Gaara standing in front of us now? This was supposed to be some sort of sick joke. I like sick jokes, really, I do. This isn't one of them.

I cleaned by throat awkwardly and waved. "...Hey?"

Gaara's lips quirked upwards, but no type of amusement reached up to his eyes. I noticed the way he was dressed was funny. "Bonjour."

"Bonjour?" I shot back, incredulously. Well, that I wasn't expecting to hear. Though admittedly, I should've.

In the back, I could hear Sasuke groan. And I sort of wanted to do the same. It was like all of our problems came back full force on a seven am arrival plane.

* * *

Fortunately, Gaara wasn't as mad as Sasuke, Sakura, and I all thought he would be. Well, at least, I don't think he's angry (the whole locker thing was kinda, uhhh...). The first day or two was awkward because I felt obligated to re-integrate him back into the school and classes, and I had to tell the super long (and incredibly ridiculous, now that I think back on it) story of how Sasuke and I even _got _together, while gently ignoring the nagging advice to tell Gaara that his trip to France was for absolutely nothing.

Well, not quite nothing. The boy's french is freakin' impeccable.

Anyway, although I was feeling pretty good that Gaara had finally returned, (not that I was feeling guilty or anything) but that I actually had a friend around that I wanted to keep. I mean, don't get me wrong or anything but, obviously we know what happened to all of my friends...and, having someone else to casually talk to besides my boyfriend and Kiba was kinda nice.

And especially because Sakura drives me crazy, I liked having my own friend around. Well, in the beginning.

Here's where things get kinda hilarious. For me...not so much anyone else. You see, integrating Gaara back into the school year took a lot of energy, and say well, time. Time that...I would normally be spending with Sasuke. You see where I'm going with this?

Gaara's around all the time.

Not that it's a bad thing, like I just said, but, it's definitely putting a strain on things. Like one time—ah, wait, here comes Sakura.

"Time to make my great escape this early? Oh no!" I exclaimed, slamming my locker shut with abnormally excited enthusiasm as Sakura trotted towards us two. Yes two. Gaara's here.

"Hi Naruto, Hi Gaara," she said with a twinkly smile, giving off this perfumed air of flowers and sunshine.

I smiled back, "Hey Sakura. You seen Sasuke?" At this she frowned, shaking her head.

"I haven't seen him this morning. We always walk in together. I hate when he doesn't tell me things," she whined, and I half-expected her to stomp her foot childishly. I snuck a side-glance at Gaara, only to find his eyes concentrated somewhere else. Guess we were too boring for him.

"Yeah, well, imagine that shock I'm going through, since I'm his boyfriend and you are...you know...nothing..." I said slowly, and with a small pretend smile, narrowly missing the punch she swung at me. It seemed to get Gaara's attention back to our conversation.

I waited for Sakura to throw an insult back my way, but her eyes seemed to dip somewhere else, before her entire face lit up in some kind of confused excitement. Did I do something?

"Oh! Did Sasuke tell you about the concert this Saturday? One of his favorite bands are playing." She said, bouncing excitedly. I frowned and shook my head negatively. No, I didn't know, and not just because he doesn't like to tell me these things, but because I haven't had any private time with him for a while...

The bell rung on us. Sakura glanced around at the suddenly moving students and said, "Well, when you see him, ask him about. I'm just _sure _he'd rather be taking you than me. Anyway, I'll see you later, okay? Bye Naruto, Gaara!" And with that, she trotted off the opposite direction, all forms of girly sunshine following her and the ends of her skirt fluttering around her thighs.

Though it was really bothering me and I wanted to talk more about it, I didn't want Gaara to get concerned or anything. So when we looked at each other and he gave me the 'quirked eyebrow thing' that he likes to do, I just shrugged him and we walked off to class together. No big deal.

Right?

* * *

I thought I was playing good boyfriend today by buying Sasuke lunch and walking him home. But he didn't really feel like speaking to me. I thought he was mad at me or something, but then he kicked this dog who crossed his path, so then I figured he was feeling pretty normal. And we finally got to the mansion he probably calls a condo, we sat on one of the polished steps, and I watched the breeze sift through his hair like water.

It's a very interesting scene to watch, believe me.

And his eyes hardened a moment, so I swallowed thickly. Here it comes.

"There's this band."

I nodded. "Uh-huh..."

"And...they're having this show on Saturday."

"Alright..."

"So...we're going."

I blinked. Twice. "...Are you asking me?"

"...Kinda."

I laughed, and then I kissed him. I guess I shouldn't be expecting anything more than that, but I did notice the tinge of red on his cheeks, so I now that he, at the very least, is nervous about me asking. And I think he even got into our kisses for a minute, but then the front door opened and Itachi chased me down the long-ass driveway with a chainsaw. I hope it's used for botanical purposes only.

So while I walked home, pondering on which outfit to choose to wear on Saturday, my phone buzzed, and it was Gaara.

"You've reached SlutsNightly, how can we pleasure you?" I said, smiling into the phone.

"_Looking for a blond, 5'4", blue eyes._" Gaara replied, without missing a beat. Ahh, he has such a great sense of humor.

"5'5," I mutter into the phone, hooking a left down a narrow street to get to my house faster. "Ah, so, what's up?"

"_Nothing really, but your math teacher is insane_."

I looked up from the phone, and hooked a left down the street. The stupid cars were making it harder to hear. "Kurenai? Insaner than you are? That's a first. What'd she do? Rob a bank? Joy ride a bus full of 2nd graders?"

"_She forced me to join the Math team._"

I gasped. "Honestly? That's strange. I didn't know you were smart—err..."

Gaara sighed loudly. I smiled, even though I knew he couldn't see it. "_The things you say sometimes..._"

"I know, I know. I'm reckless. Anyway, what are you telling me all this for?" I turned another corner and picked up my steps walking down the neighborhood street. Mmm, I was craving a Pop-Tart.

I could hear Gaara's breathing into the phone as I climbed the steps to my porch and waited for him to respond. I was fishing out my keys from my pocket when he said, "_The first match is on Saturday, would you come?_"

"Huh? I'm sorry," I said, unlocking the door and pushing it open. "What was it you said?"

"_Saturday, the match is on Saturday. But, we'll talk later. I gotta go._" Gaara replied quickly, and before I could respond, he hung up on me. I sighed and closed my front door, leaning up against it for support.

...Huh. The lights are all on. Iruka must be around. I hope he makes spaghetti and meatballs. I like that. In fact, I can make this pretty nice sauce for it too. I was reading recipes one day online and I found this cool one that uses mushrooms. Usually I wouldn't eat mushroom because all that health stuff, but in this case it was actually very satisfying and-

I blinked. WAIT.

"Saturday?"

* * *

I couldn't handle it, honestly. I was always bad at making decisions. And whenever I had a bad time making a decision or so, I went to the guy who always made decisions, even without thinking about them first. That's right; my friend Shikamaru. I waited until the end of Spanish class to find him. Shikamaru hates History class, so he always skips. I think he does it because he hates sitting next to Sakura so much, but maybe that's just me.

"Go away, Naruto," Shikamaru muttered into his arm and swatted my hand away that was incessantly poking his shoulder.

I pouted and shielded my eyes from the suddenly hot-burning sun. At least the weather was nice out today. "But I need help Shikamaru, so wake up."

He grumbled and rolled over in the grass, squinting so that he could see me. "I don't have time for your martial dilemmas. And for the record, I am not sleeping, I'm hiding."

"Hiding from w—ohhh." I rolled my eyes. Blondes get such a bad name sometimes. "But anyway, you can stay hiding, I just need your help. I can't decide whether to go with Sasuke to see this band he likes or see Gaara in his first math competition."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "And that's a dilemma? Which one are you dating?"

I frowned. His sarcastic reply bit me a bit harder than it should've. "That's not funny. Gaara's my friend. I feel partly responsible for him being sent away in the first place, and for helping him get back involved in school now. I can't just bail on him."

"Then go see him do math. Sasuke'll understand."

I sighed, and took a seat next to Shikamaru, who turned over to fully look at me. This is where I began to flail my arms around wildly. "But it's because Sasuke _doesn't _understand that makes it so complicated! And I don't want to fight with him. Of course I want to be a part of the things Sasuke really enjoys, too."

"Then go with Sasuke."

"You really aren't good with advice, are you?" I raised my eyebrow now, sarcastically.

He shrugged. "I can't see how this is difficult. Have you forgotten all the things Sasuke went through just to get your attention? Or all the things you did just to end up seeing him for who he was? I certainly didn't."

I blushed slightly and chuckled. Ehehe...Shikamaru can be such a _flirt _sometimes...

"You're letting someone you hardly know interfere with that," He continued. "Unless you have feelings for Gaara too, this is a no brainer."

I paused, and then shrugged. It wasn't something I potentially wanted to sit and ponder about, considering that the thought itself even felt like cheating. However, I couldn't deny that I took a real liking to being around Gaara. I liked his attitude; it reminded me all of Sasuke, but someone who more easily indulged me in everything. Maybe I did like him, somehow; it wasn't something I was gonna think about. I couldn't.

"I guess you're right," I said slowly, reaching into my pocket. "I'd better tell Gaara then."

Shikamaru nodded and then shifted his direction back up to the cloudless sky. I pulled out my phone and dialed. Unfortunately, he didn't pick up. Tucking my phone away, I sighed loudly.

"He didn't answer, I'll just go find him. I'm sure he's still around the schoolyard somewhere." He nodded at me. I stood up and dusted off my pants, turning back the way I came.

"_Shikamaru! You damn dog!"_

Shikamaru bolted upright. "Shit." The sound of heavy feet on pavement was enough to make even _me _shiver.

I laughed out loud. "Guess we're both leaving then." And we both parted ways. I have to find him again soon, I'd really like to tease him for having an obsessive girlfriend; that'd be fun. And then I made a mental note to introduce him to Gaara's sister, Temari. She gives blondes a better name.

It didn't take me very long to find Gaara, what with his red hair and all. Only I didn't just find Gaara. I found Gaara and someone else. Rather, I found Gaara tied up _in _someone else. I squealed. Was that my innocent Gaara being intentionally felt up and kissed by Neji? The horror. The erotic and slightly-arousing-in-a not-okay horror!

What was the world coming to when two of my old flames randomly decide to hook up in public. And Neji looked like such a fierce kisser. In the back of my mind, I sorta wished I knew what that was like. But when I look over again...uhh,...not really. I don't think I could handle Neji's...expert...tongue...ahh...

I shook my head. Twice. And then started backing away slowly. Not even going down that road.

Guess he found someone else to go the competition, then.

Problem solved!

* * *

It was one of the wildest Saturday nights I've ever had...sober, anyway. It was really interesting to see. Being in line for six hours waiting to stand up for another five really gave me a good chance to make up all the time from being away from Sasuke. And he was surprisingly really patient about it all, even when the cosplay girls started suggestively calling out to him, he kept cool. ...Though I didn't.

And all the weird emo outfits made Sasuke look like a completely normal person. We went all the way to the end of this thing. It was nearly two in the morning when the whole concert was finished, and my feet were too tired to take another step. I collapsed right there on the sidewalk.

"So," I said thoughtfully, reaching my hand into my bag of popcorn for a few buttery pieces. Best part about the evening. "That was pretty nice. All the screaming and stuff. Oh! And the guy crowd surfing the first three rows, really interesting stuff."

Sasuke snorted loudly through his nose. "You're not funny."

I chuckled, stuffing a few pieces in my mouth. "Whaaat, I'm being serious! I've never done anything like that before. It was pretty interesting. I wanna do it again with you sometime." I leaned over and gently nudged my flushing boyfriend. "And you? Did you have a good time?"

He looked away from me, and then nodded quickly. "I'm glad you came."

"I'm glad you bought me." I say quickly, and he turns his head back around to look me in my eyes. I've never seen his face glow like this. He looks so happy. My heart was about ready to burst, if I can say that while wearing cargo pants and not a skirt. It was the first time the whole night that I had thought about the awful mistake I would've made being with Gaara tonight. Despite almost losing my shoe in the crowd, nearly dying in a mosh pit, and not being able to hear out of one ear, I was the luckiest guy on earth. I was with the boy I had a big crush on. The boy I realized I was totally, really was in love with.

...Hah! I'd never thought I'd say that!

There was a pause, while I and swallowed my snack. I smirked, "This is the part where you're supposed to kiss me."

"No way, you smell like a stick of butter." He smirked and stood, brushing off his pants. My flabbergasted face must've looked rather silly. So I closed my mouth and licked the salt from my lips with a smile.

"I love you, Sasuke."

It was the first time I had ever said that to him, though it's crossed my mind many times. And, it was the first time I've ever seen him blush like a girl. Like a really, really pretty girl. He held out his hand for me to take, and lifted me from my seat with a graceful ease. I moved right into his arms, popcorn be damned.

"Did you..did you hear me?" I said, nervously, because our faces had gotten so close together. He nodded, and his hand squeezed my hip playfully. "Don't you want to say anything?"

He moved in just then, and placed a kiss on my jaw, making me shiver. "Sure, but..." I looked up at him. His smile was so real.

"Does it even need to be said?"

* * *

Yay. Was that long enough? I think I did too much. I just really, really, like this chapter. I even liked Sakura, and that's a first. It was fun writing eccentric Naruto for the last time. I really hope you guys liked this story. Please, tell me what you think! Even if you didn't like it, I'm a big girl, ahaha. Oh, and if you see a mistake, PLEASE drop a review and tell me so I can fix it. Me not having a regular BETA makes me feel incredibly naked, and typos are embarrassing, ughhh. Reviews are love!


End file.
